Should Late Shopping of Class Settlements Draw Sanctions?

Bloomberg BNA reports on CEI's Center for Class Action Fairness's involvement in an insurance class action settlement. 

Attorneys for both sides have appealed the Rule 11 findings to the Eighth Circuit.

On Sept. 6, the appeals court granted leave for Ted Frank, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Center for Class Action Fairness, to appear as an amicus supporting the district court's order.

Frank, in seeking to weigh in on the case, argued that no one would defend Holmes' order on appeal even though the sanctions were necessary to curb class action abuses.

He pointed out that class counsel justified their decision to seek approval of the deal in state court because Arkansas law doesn't allow class members who object to a settlement to appeal its approval.

Class counsel had said that class members would actually benefit from the limitation because Arkansas's requirement that objectors formally intervene to appeal would limit “serial objectors” and result in a faster payout to the class.

Read the full article at Bloomberg BNA.