Reuters covers HLLI’s recent Sixth Circuit victory in the $0-to-class, all-cy pres Google Cookies settlement, and also references HLLI’s Supreme Court challenge to a similar Google settlement, Frank v. Gaos.
The decision is a victory for Ted Frank, the litigation director at the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute and prominent critic of many class-action settlements.
Frank said the money awarded to the privacy groups, under a legal doctrine known as “cy pres,” should have gone to class members like himself. He drew support from a bipartisan group of 13 state attorneys general led by Arizona’s Mark Brnovich.
Cy pres, meaning “as near as possible,” is sometimes used in settlements covering large numbers of class members who might otherwise stand to receive only tiny amounts.
Google has faced this issue before, suffering a setback in March when the U.S. Supreme Court questioned the legitimacy of a separate $8.5 million privacy settlement involving cy pres.
Ambro noted that Chief Justice John Roberts has expressed concerns about cy pres, and said many federal courts view cy pres awards with “skepticism” because they could prompt class counsel to put their own interests ahead of their clients’.