4 Comments

  • Is there any precedent for a settlement where 100% of the money goes to a charity of plaintiff’s choice? (Minus plaintiffs atty fees, of course). I don’t mean the leftovers go to charity, I mean class members get nothing and a third party gets some substantial money award? Can that happen? Has it ever happened? You have written about some settlements where the class members got a pittance (GTA, Motorola Bluetooth), but is there a case out there where the settlement itself does not provide for any award to class members?

  • In Bluetooth, the class didn’t get anything. Same for the Facebook settlement discussed this month in the WSJ, and for the Costco fuel settlement we objected to last week (and that one doesn’t even provide for charity).

  • Thanks for responding. That is unbelievable. It seems like it is happening with increasing frequency. These awards are immoral. As you noted in your GTA brief: these awards suggest that either the attorneys are selling out claims with merit, or the claims never had merit and should not have been certified in the first place. These awards expose a system of legalized extortion. Can we PLEASE have a loser pays rule in class action litigation?

  • John, do follow CCAF either on Facebook or at the CCAF blog.