Bluetooth Headset Products Liability Litigation

Plaintiffs sued three manufacturers of Bluetooth headsets alleging consumer fraud for failure to adequately warn of hearing loss risk. CCAF objected to the settlement that provided zero recovery to the class, $100,000 in cy pres awards, injunctive relief requiring nonmaterial changes in defendants’ warnings, and $850,000 in attorneys’ fees. After the district court approved the settlement and fees, CCAF appealed.

In a groundbreaking opinion, the Ninth Circuit held that the court failed to justify the high attorneys’ fees and the questionable settlement provisions that protected those fees. Bluetooth has been cited in hundreds of cases and numerous courts have relied on CCAF’s precedent-setting victory.