When a bankrupt company’s most valuable assets include consumer information, a tension arises between bankruptcy policy aimed at maximizing asset value, on the one hand, and privacy laws designed to protect consumers’...more
Over the last several months, Judge Richard Posner has authored a triumvirate of opinions reversing the district courts’ approval, over objections, of consumer class action settlements—Eubank v. Pella Corp., 753 F.3d 718 (7th...more
The topic of potential self-dealing in class action settlements has been written about extensively. While class counsel may be fully aligned with the class in seeking to maximize the settlement, their interests diverge...more
In Redman v. RadioShack Corp., 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 18181 (7th Cir. Sept. 19, 2014), the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals joined a recent line of cases rejecting proposed class action settlements because the value provided to...more
As we’ve commented before, class actions frequently take on a life of their own. They involve large sums of money, frequently raise difficult discovery and case management issues, and are subject to surprises for all the...more
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...more