First Cobell Settlement Appeal Heard

Indian Country discusses the case in which Ted Frank represented an appeal of a settlement that was not fairly distributed and left some class members overpaid and others underpaid.

“Signals were ambiguous,” Ted Frank, the lawyer for Craven, assessed of the hearing to Indian Country Today Media Network soon after the 40-minute oral arguments ended. Frank leads the Center for Class Action Fairness.

Frank has cited case law that says when settling parties ask a court to evaluate a settlement of different types of claims, they must demonstrate that they have investigated each of these claims and that the settlement fairly approximates their litigation value. This has not happened in this instance, according to Craven’s briefings.

Frank said that Craven’s appeal was heard separate from the other appeals because there was no move to consolidate them.

Read the full article at Indian Country.