CCAF senior attorney Melissa Holyoak told me: “Attorneys’ fees should always be based upon and proportionate to the relief actually received by class members—that’s something we fight for on a regular basis.”
Earlier this week the Center for Class Action Fairness filed a motion to intervene and seek disgorgement from for-profit “professional objectors” in Pearson v. NBTY, Inc., a case dealing with allegedly deceptive marketing practices by makers of health supplements. The Center became involved in the case in 2014 when it objected to a class action settlement that would have provided attorneys $4.5 million but less than $900,000 to the class. On appeal, the Seventh Circuit agreed and reversed approval of the…
On July 29, 2016 the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled that the $14 million fee request by attorneys in a coupon settlement over Justice clothing store sales was excessive under federal law and that only $5.3 million could be currently justified. At the conclusion of the coupon redemption period, the objectors CCAF represents moved to disgorge pay-offs that had been made to self-interested so-called "professional objectors."
Thanks to the Center’s objection, the parties negotiated a new settlement providing the class with more than $3 million additional recovery.
