Ridiculous Class-Action Lawsuits Are Costing You Tons of Money
New York Post covers the Center for Class Action Fariness’ (CCAF) work.
New Yorkers pay the price for class action lawsuit frivolity — through “higher auto insurance rates, higher health care costs and higher taxes,” says a report by the Empire Center for Public Policy.
About 177,000 lawyers actively practice in the state — one lawyer for every 112 residents. That’s more lawyers per capita than any other state, the Empire Center says.
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Washington, DC, lawyer Ted Frank has set up a consumer group aimed at watchdogging the lawyers who say they look out for consumers.
Last month, Frank’s group — the Center for Class Action Fairness — objected to a $115 million settlement involving health insurer Anthem Inc.
In 2015, hackers stole the personal information of about 79 million people from Anthem. The settlement will pay for two years of credit monitoring for everyone whose data was stolen, if they apply for the service. As of last month, less than 900,000 people signed up.
But consumers will get little else. The $115 million deal includes $23 million in administrative costs and $41 million in lawyer fees — leaving consumers with the equivalent of less than $1 apiece, Frank’s group says.
It was Frank’s objection to a proposed settlement in Wisconsin federal court that helped scuttle a proposed $525,000 payout for lawyers suing Subway.
The suit was spawned after an Australian kid snapped a shot of his Subway footlong sub next to a ruler, and found it came up an inch short. The 2013 viral pic prompted attorneys across America to claim consumers were being cheated.
A shortened Subway “footlong” is simply the result of bread baking up thicker in the oven, not less food, courts found.
“In their haste to file suit … the lawyers neglected to consider whether the claims had any merit. They did not,” Judge Lynn Adelman wrote in an August ruling tossing the planned settlement, which would have paid consumers nothing.
The case is an example of lawsuits “being constructed by lawyers, often making up an injury that no one actually thought existed,” Frank said.
Read the full article at New York Post.