Unsettling Advocate

ABA Journal details Ted Frank's decision to start Center for Class Action Fairness and his fight to make settlements fair for class members.

“I came to law school to be a consumer advocate,” Frank says, “and to discover plaintiffs lawyers—who were fighting for the little guy—pulling this scam was an incredible disillusion.”

“There is so much wasted effort in litigation,” Frank says, “and so many startups brought to the brink of insolvency because of litigation costs.”

Last June, Frank founded the Center for Class Action Fairness, a nonprofit organization that represents consumers challenging class action settlements. Among the settlements that concern Frank are those that may provide millions of dollars in lawyers’ fees, while the class members receive little more than (rarely redeemed) coupons for more products from the company that wronged them.

Frank’s efforts to create the center were spurred by his objection to a $1 million settlement for attorney fees (less than $30,000 was allocated to class members) for In re Grand Theft Auto Video Game Consumer Litigation. Frank was a member of the class objecting to sexual depictions in the video game. The trial judge decertified the class, and that decision is being appealed.

Since then, the center has objected to seven settlements and has been retained by class members to object to two others.

Read the full article at ABA Journal.