A recent Ninth Circuit decision clarified that the benefit to the class is the “touchstone for determining the reasonableness of attorneys’ fees in a class action.” Under this decision, the fee should not be based on the maximum potential class recovery (as some courts have held for many years), or a lodestar amount that bears
Class Action Settlements
Second Circuit Casts Doubt on Named Plaintiff Service Awards And Leaves Enforceability of Future Release For Another Day
By Wystan Ackerman on
Posted in Class Action Settlements
Last week the Second Circuit issued a new decision affirming, with one exception, the approval of a $5.6 billion revised class action settlement in the long-running Visa/Mastercard antitrust litigation. (See my blog post on the Second Circuit’s reversal of a prior settlement in 2016.) The opinion and two concurrences in Fikes Wholesale, Inc. v. HSBC…
First Circuit Rejects Class Action Settlement Based on Potential Intra-class Conflict, But Approves Named Plaintiff Incentive Awards
By Wystan Ackerman on
Posted in Class Action Settlements
When negotiating a class action settlement, lawyers on both sides may need to consider whether subgroups within the class need to be separately represented by different counsel. The First Circuit recently reached that conclusion in Murray v. Grocery Delivery E-Services USA Inc., 2022 WL 17729630 (1st Cir. Dec. 16, 2022).
Murray involved three different…
Ninth Circuit Addresses Class Representative Incentive Awards and Attestation Requirement
By Wystan Ackerman on
Posted in Class Action Settlements
A recent Ninth Circuit decision on a class action settlement, In re Apple Inc. Device Performance Litigation, 2022 WL 4492078 (9th Cir. Sept. 28, 2022), received significant attention in the legal media. It addressed several issues of significance to lawyers negotiating class settlements: (1) class representative incentive awards; (2) a requirement that class members…
Class Definition in Class Action Settlement Must Be Limited to Class Members That Have Standing According to Eleventh Circuit
By Wystan Ackerman on
Last week the Eleventh Circuit addressed an issue that many class action practitioners probably haven’t thought much about: whether approval of a class action settlement requires that each class member obtaining relief have Article III standing to sue. Defendants typically want a broad class definition because they are focused on finality and buying peace. Plaintiffs…
Are Incentive Awards for Named Plaintiffs in Class Actions Allowed? Not According to the Eleventh Circuit
By Wystan Ackerman on
Posted in Class Action Settlements
A recent decision by the Eleventh Circuit struck down a practice that is commonplace in class action settlements—providing a modest incentive award to a named plaintiff. In Johnson v. NPAS Solutions, LLC, No. 18-12344, 2020 WL 5553312 (11th Cir. Sept. 17, 2020), the district court, as part of the final approval of a class…
Ninth Circuit Reverses Class Action Settlement Based on Notice Concerns and Insufficient Scrutiny
By Wystan Ackerman on
Posted in Class Action Settlements
Class action settlements are complicated. They often take months to negotiate. The last thing the lawyers or their clients on either side want to happen is for the trial court to deny approval or, even worse, for an appellate court to overturn a decision approving the settlement when an objector appeals. That happened earlier this…
Supreme Court to Address Use of Cy Pres Relief in Class Action Settlements Next Term
By Wystan Ackerman on
Posted in Class Action Settlements
The Supreme Court recently granted review in a case that involves whether, or in what circumstances, cy pres relief may be used in class action settlements. In Frank v. Gaos, No. 17-961, the Court will review the Ninth Circuit’s decision in In re Google Referrer Header Privacy Litig., 869 F.3d 737 (9th Cir.…
Second Chance to Opt Out of Class Not Required for Class Action Settlement
By Wystan Ackerman on
Posted in Class Action Settlements
The Ninth Circuit recently ruled in favor of President Trump. That was not a typo, and this is not fake news. The ruling was not in favor of Trump in his official capacity, but in his capacity as a class action defendant. And it was in a case where the plaintiffs were on his side,…
Are Nationwide Class Settlements Endangered By Ninth Circuit’s Opinion in Hyundai and Kia Case?
By Wystan Ackerman on
Posted in Class Action Settlements
The Ninth Circuit’s decision this week vacating a class action settlement in In re Hyundai and Kia Fuel Economy Litig., No. 15-65014 (9th Cir. Jan. 23, 2018) is getting a lot of attention in the class action bar. It’s 84 pages long, but the bottom line is that the Ninth Circuit held that the…