Court’s New Math in Subway Foot-Long Sub Lawsuit: Zero + Zero = Zero
"It was wonderful to see the principle vindicated," that cases without benefits to absent class members should not be certified.
"It was wonderful to see the principle vindicated," that cases without benefits to absent class members should not be certified.
In class-action lawsuits the threat of astronomical liability drives many defendants to settle — even if the plaintiffs’ chances of success are negligible. But because there’s only so much money that defendants are willing to spend, such nuisance lawsuits often lead to settlements where the attorneys get more than their fair share. It works like a formula: The plaintiffs’ attorneys and the few named representative plaintiffs divvy up the entire cash proceeds, leaving the remainder of the class with a potpourri of worthless window dressing.
In a victory for consumers, the Center for Class Action Fairness successfully objected to an abusive class action settlement in a case about the length of Subway’s “footlong” sandwiches. The proposed settlement benefitted only nine people in the class but awarded more than half a million dollars to the class attorneys.