Takeaway: When evaluating the fairness of a proposed class settlement, Federal Rule 23(e)(2) requires a district court to take into account, among other considerations, the terms of any proposed award of attorneys’ fees and...more
Limiting exposure to future claims is a crucial aspect of settling class action litigation. A recent opinion out of the Northern District of Georgia serves as a reminder that the definitions of settlement classes and released...more
Most class-action lawyers know about Johnson v. NPAS Solutions., LLC—an Eleventh Circuit panel decision that outlawed service awards to lead plaintiffs in class actions, which “compensate[] a class representative for his time...more
When you finally reach an agreement to settle a hotly contested class action, you want more than anything for the court to approve your settlement agreement and for the case to be over. But, to get to the end of the case,...more
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...more
In a 7-4 split decision, the Eleventh Circuit declined to rehear en banc a panel decision issued in September 2020, holding a class settlement that included an incentive award to the class representative was improper. The en...more
Explaining for the first time “who bears what burdens when a class member objects to a proposed settlement,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed in an insurance case a district court’s order approving a...more
A federal court recently issued a decision approving a class action settlement resolving litigation stemming from five Yahoo! data breaches that occurred from 2012 to 2016 and affected at least 194 million Yahoo! customers....more
The author presented the following paper at the 2020 Class Actions National Institute of the American Bar Association. What makes mediating a class action different from mediating an individual case? In both settings,...more
For years, class action settlements typically have included incentive payments to named plaintiffs. The payments usually represent a very small percentage of the overall settlement payout, and are designed to compensate named...more
When a class action settlement is proposed for approval, the class members have three options, (1) they can remain in the settlement class, (2) opt-out of the settlement to preserve their individual claims, or (3) they can...more