Class actions
Yet Another Study Shows Who Really Wins In Class Actions: The Lawyers
At the median of cases studied – meaning half were higher, and half were lower – lawyers representing the class were paid more than the class itself.
Class actions
Supreme Court Hears Challenge to Class Actions That Pay Nothing to the Class
The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments this morning in a case that could end cy pres, the practice of steering money in class action settlements to organizations with absolutely no connection to the underlying lawsuit. Proponents say cy pres – it translates roughly into “as good as” Read more…
Class actions
Reversal of $500 Million Hip Implant Verdict Highlights Tort Magician’s Favorite Trick
An old story has it a Southern defense attorney, confronted with photographic evidence of his client’s guilt, turns to the jury and says “who you gonna believe? Me, or your own lyin’ eyes?” A quick Google search reveals the line was actually first uttered by Chico Marx, disguised as Groucho, Read more…
Class actions
Lawyers Struggle to Craft a National Settlement in Opioid Litigation
Lawyers meeting in a federal courtroom in Cleveland today to discuss a settlement of opioid litigation face the difficult task of crafting a deal that will not only pay their clients — mostly towns and cities — but include states and even the federal government while spreading the cash evenly Read more…
Class actions
Ninth Circuit Delivers One-Two Punch to Hyundai Class Action Settlement
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals just threw out a proposed class-action settlement over inflated Hyundai mileage estimates, in a decision that also criticized the common practice of basing attorney fees on inflated estimates of what a settlement is worth. Plaintiff lawyers are likely to request a full-court review of Read more…
Class actions
The Usual Suspects Dominate Opioid Litigation
There will be a lot of familiar faces in U.S. District Judge Dan Polster’s courtroom in Cleveland on Jan. 31, when lawyers gather for a hearing on multidistrict litigation against the nation’s opioid manufacturers and distributors. The prospect of the biggest payday since the $200 billion tobacco settlement in 1998 Read more…
Class actions
Employee Arbitration Contracts Survive Intense Questioning by Supreme Court
Employers seem poised to overturn an Obama-era rule prohibiting individual arbitration in employment contracts after the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a trio of cases over whether New Deal-era labor laws protect the rights of employees to join in class actions. Arguments in Epic Systems v. Lewis and two Read more…
Class actions
7th Circuit Dumps Subway `Footlong’ Settlement; Will Judges Get The Message?
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals today issued an emphatic ruling rejecting a class action over Subway’s “footlong” sandwiches that, amazingly enough, sometimes come up short. In so doing, the influential Chicago court put the judges in its district, and hopefully elsewhere, on notice that so-called “settlement-only” classes that deliver Read more…