Judge Posner of the Seventh Circuit is a frequent author of class action-related opinions. His most recent one reversed an order approving a class action settlement because the attorneys’ fee award was too high.  The case involved claims that RadioShack violated the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act by putting expiration dates for credit card numbers on receipts. The settlement provided $10 coupons to class members who received notice and requested these coupons. The value of the $10 coupons requested by the less-than-1% of class members who sought them totaled $830,000. The district court awarded an attorneys’ fee of slightly under $1 million.

The opinion in Redman v. RadioShack Corp., No. 14-1470 (7th Cir. Sept. 19, 2014) is lengthy, but here are some key points:

  • The court found that the full amount of administrative costs should not have been included in calculating the value of the settlement to the class for purposes of evaluating the reasonableness of the fee award. “By doing so the court eliminated the incentive of class counsel to economize on that expense – and indeed may have created a perverse incentive; for higher administrative expenses make class counsel’s proposed fee appear smaller . . . .” (Slip op. at 10-11.) 
  • The court concluded that because of RadioShack’s apparent financial condition, a modest overall settlement was warranted, but more of it should go to the class members and less to class counsel. (Id. at 15-16.)  
  • A lodestar analysis was not proper without taking into account that “the efforts of class counsel yielded an extremely modest harvest . . . .” (Id. at 16.) 
  • The Class Action Fairness Act provision regarding coupon settlements does not rigidly require waiting to see how many coupons are redeemed before making the fee award; rather, the district court has flexibility to consider expert testimony about how many coupons likely will be redeemed, or to provide for payment of some fees upfront and more after redemption, if warranted. (Id. at 19.) 
  • “Clear-sailing clauses,” in which a defendant agrees not to contest class counsel’s request for an attorneys’ fee award, warranted “intense critical scrutiny” in this case, where it involved a non-cash settlement award. (Id. at 26.) 
  • According to the court, under Rule 23(h), the motion for the attorneys’ fee award should be filed prior to the deadline for objections to the settlement, so that objectors have adequate opportunity to object. (Id.) This is an important point for class action practitioners, as it has been more typical for the fee application to be filed later.

Although the court, of course, could not itself rewrite the settlement, it suggested that “[a] renegotiated settlement will simply shift some fraction of the exorbitant attorneys’ fee awarded class counsel in the existing settlement that we are disapproving to the class members.” (Id. at 27.)

This case continues the trend we’ve seen in recent years of increased scrutiny being given to attorneys’ fee awards in class action settlements. It seems likely that plaintiffs’ attorneys are going to simply have to agree to substantially lower fees in lower-value class actions, unless they want to spend a long time battling appeals. Or perhaps defendants in some cases will be willing to roll the dice, by agreeing to a settlement with the class but leaving the fee award to the court. That would create a more vigorous adversarial process on these fee awards, but obviously has its risks.

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Photo of Wystan Ackerman Wystan Ackerman

Wystan Ackerman is a partner in Robinson+Cole’s Insurance + Reinsurance Group and handles a diverse range of property insurance litigation, including large business interruption cases, class actions, other complex litigation, and appeals. He also has substantial experience representing insurance companies in putative class…

Wystan Ackerman is a partner in Robinson+Cole’s Insurance + Reinsurance Group and handles a diverse range of property insurance litigation, including large business interruption cases, class actions, other complex litigation, and appeals. He also has substantial experience representing insurance companies in putative class actions involving homeowners’ insurance coverage and market conduct/claim-handling practices. He has been prominently involved in high-profile property insurance litigation concerning the September 11th catastrophe and Hurricane Katrina, and Chinese-made drywall. Based in the insurance capital of Hartford, Connecticut, Wystan writes the blog Insurance Class Actions Insider, which was selected by Lexis Nexis as a top insurance blog for 2011.

Wystan grew up in Deep River, Connecticut, a small town on the west side of the Connecticut River in the south central part of the state. He always had strong interests in history, politics and baseball and his heroes growing up were Abraham Lincoln and Wade Boggs (at that time the third baseman for the Boston Red Sox). Wystan says it was his early fascination with Lincoln that drove him to practice law. As a high school senior, he was one of Connecticut’s two delegates to the U.S. Senate Youth Program, which further solidified his interest in law and government. He went on to Bowdoin College, where he wrote for the Bowdoin Orient and majored in government. After Bowdoin, he went on to Columbia Law School. He also interned in the chambers of then-Judge Sonia Sotomayor on the Second Circuit. Wystan graduated from Columbia in 2001, then worked at Skadden Arps in Boston before returning to Connecticut and joining Robinson+Cole.

When Wystan’s not at his desk, flying around the country trying to save insurance companies from the plaintiffs’ bar, or attending a conference on class actions or insurance litigation he often can be found watching “Dora the Explorer” or reading or playing whiffleball with his young daughter, helping his wife with her business, Option Realty, reading a book about history or politics, or watching the Boston Red Sox.

Read Wystan’s rc.com bio.