Quick payoff or material disclosure? 7th Circuit to weigh in on Walgreens shareholder class action deal

Cook County Record discusses Center for Class Action Fairness's objection to the unfair class action settlement in the Hays v. Walgreens Co. case. 

On June 2, Ted Frank, an attorney with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, on behalf of objector John Berlau, squared off before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, against attorneys representing Walgreens Boots Alliance and Walgreens shareholder investor John Hays, arguing the settlement deal Hays and Walgreens reached last summer failed key legal tests.

The Washington, D.C.-based CEI describes itself as a “nonprofit public policy organization dedicated to advancing the principles of limited government, free enterprise and individual liberty.” Among other ventures, the CEI operates the Center for Class Action Fairness, which has filed objections to numerous class action settlements its leaders believe unfairly benefit plaintiffs’ lawyers who may earn large fees, compared to purportedly nominal awards for class members.

The arguments before the Seventh Circuit come as the latest step in a process launched in late 2014, when Hays and a group of fellow Walgreens shareholders first took Walgreens to court over their purported belief the company had left investors in the dark on certain details in the company’s narrative to shareholders concerning the events leading up to the merger proposal with Boots Alliance.

Read the full article at Cook County Record.