Unfair settlements generally serve self-interested lawyers and third parties at the expense of absent class members, the group of people whose rights are traded away to settle a class action. Lawyers have an interest in their fees, defendants have an interest in cheaply disposing of a lawsuit, and the class’ interests can take a back seat in the process. CCAF seeks to solve these problems by representing such class members pro bono and presenting judges with the other side of the argument. When CCAF prevails, lawyers get less, class members get more, and the rule of law is strengthened.
The New York Times says CCAF’s Ted Frank is “the leading critic of abusive class action settlements,” while Reuters called him a “class action maverick” and “among class action lawyers’ most feared objectors.”
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Reason
Photos Show the Transformation of Great Britain
Not so long ago, Great Britain was deemed “the sick man of Europe.” The 1970s were plagued by inflation, labor union strikes, and a rise…
News Release
CEI Disappointed in Outcome of Supreme Court Decision in Class Action Settlement Case, Frank v. Gaos, but Hopeful for Future Resolution
In Frank v. Gaos, a class action-related case initiated by former CEI attorneys, the U.S. Supreme Court today decided to send the case back to…
News Release
CEI Congratulates Ted Frank and CCAF on the Launch of the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute
Since merging with CEI in 2015, the Center for Class Action Fairness (CCAF) has continued the mission Ted Frank began nearly a decade ago. CCAF has…
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Blog
Good reporting, bad reporting
Compare and contrast the excellent analysis of Forbes.com’s Dan Fisher with the shallow softball St. Louis Business Journal on the A.G. Edwards case—though…
Blog
Ninth Circuit appeal in Bluetooth – reply brief
CCAF filed its reply brief in the Bluetooth case yesterday.
Blog
“Oddly enough, I admired one of the lawyers.”
Bill McClellan of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes about the Bachman v. A.G. Edwards case and settlement in today’s paper.
Forbes
St. Louis Judge Hands Lawyers $21 Million For Coupons
Forbes discusses why Ted Frank challened the A.G. Edwards settlement. As Ted Frank of the Center for Class Action Fairness describes it, the…
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Lawyers win big in class action suit
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports on Ted Frank's work to fight the A.G. Edwards Settlement that did not benefit the class members. Ted…
Blog
Bachman v. A.G. Edwards update
You may recall the $60 million settlement that wasn’t to which CCAF objected. Judge Angela T. Quigless approved the settlement and approved the…
Blog
Ninth Circuit appeal in Bluetooth – opposition briefs
Earlier this month, plaintiffs and defendants each filed appellees’ briefs defending the district court’s approval of the Bluetooth settlement against our…
Blog
Dewey v. Volkswagen, Water Ingress Settlement objection
The Dewey v. Volkswagen settlement where attorneys are asking for over $23 million for recovering an $8 million reimbursement fund for a small subset…
Blog
Coupon settlement in DC approved in Envision EMI case
“Some 15,000 students paid between $2,380 and $2,729 to attend” 2009 inauguration conferences organized by Envision EMI, which class action attorneys claimed, quite plausibly,…
Blog
Cy pres bill in Ohio House
I’ve previously written about the problem of cy pres, charitable donations used to expand the apparent value of class action settlements that often serve…
Blog
Thoughts on “professional objectors”
I’m quoted in a May 23 Maryland Daily Record story on professional objectors (and don’t miss the correction at the bottom of the story).
Blog
Heartland podcast
Arin Greenwood interviews me about some recent Center for Class Action Fairness cases.
Blog
Wherein I join the Manhattan Institute
I have joined the Manhattan Institute as an adjunct fellow. This won’t have any adverse effect on the Center for Class Action Fairness—I’ll still…
Blog
Bluetooth case press coverage
Our appeal has drawn attention from the National Law Journal, Overlawyered, Bob Dorigo Jones, California Civil Justice, Hans Bader,…
Blog
Bachman v. A.G. Edwards class action settlement objection
The attorneys in the case of Bachman v. A.G. Edwards, Inc. negotiated what they call a $60 million settlement. Which sounds good, until…
Blog
Ninth Circuit appeal in Bluetooth
Today, we filed our Ninth Circuit appellate brief in the Bluetooth case, No. 09-56683. Our objection in this case was previously covered…
Blog
Additional briefing in Costco fuel class action
On April 1, I participated in the fairness hearing in the Costco fuel class action in Kansas City, KS, before Chief Judge Kathryn Vratil.
West Virginia Record
The Incentives of a Class Action
The West Virginia Record discusses Ted Frank's insights on the problems behind class action lawsuit settlements that benefit the attorneys more than the class members.
ABA Journal
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.
Blog
Want to be local counsel in Ohio?
We have a potential client who wishes to object to a settlement in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and need local counsel to sponsor our…
Blog
In the ABA Journal
The April issue of the ABA Journal profiles the Center, though some of the details are imprecise.
Blog
CCAF Third Circuit amicus brief in fen-phen fees case
In April 2008, the Diet Drugs MDL district court awarded $567 million the class counsel in that case, basing the award in part on…
Blog
Scary Stephen King text message worth $175 in class action settlement
Some 60,000 cell-phone users who had signed up to receive “promotional messages” from Nextones.com in order to get a free ringtone got just such a…
Blog
Trial lawyers dismiss Grand Theft Auto appeal
The case that started me on this route is now over: plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their appeal last week after voluntarily dismissing the court case…
Blog
Off-topic: Toyota sudden acceleration
Mark Tapscott and Instapundit discuss my op-ed on Toyota sudden acceleration, which has risen to #2 on the most-viewed on the Washington…
Blog
CCAF wins $2 million victory for consumers: perhaps more to come
We had objected to the Lonardo v. Travelers settlement for its disproportionate ratio of class benefits to attorneys’ fees. On the eve of the…
Blog
On KOGO (San Diego) 600 AM at 6:35 PM
I’ll be on Top Story with Chris Reed tonight at 6:35 pm Pacific discussing recent CCAF cases and the problem of bad class action…
Blog
Objection to Costco fuel settlement
Our clients were perturbed at a settlement that sought to pay up to $10 million to the attorneys, but zero to the class, along…
Wall Street Journal
Proposed Facebook Settlement Comes Under Fire
The Wall Street Journal reports on Ted Frank's objecion to the AOL settlement that gave unclaimed class member's money to charities in order to entice the…
Blog
CCAF in the Wall Street Journal
Our objection to the AOL Footer case (currently on appeal) was covered in the March 2 Wall Street Journal: Late last year,…
Blog
Good quotes from the Honda case
Quotes from the court’s order. On the appropriateness of disparate class treatment (pp. 25-29): Courts generally are wary of settlement agreementswhere some class…
Wall Street Journal
Judge Questions Coupon Settlement in Honda Class Action
The Wall Street Journal reports on Ted Frank's objection to the Honda settlement which gave lawyers millions and class members small coupons. The…
Blog
Victory in Honda case
At Monday’s fairness hearing, Judge Phillips upheld our objection to the coupon settlement; Legal Newsline has coverage. Here is our reply brief,…
SE Texas Record
Group puts the brakes on Honda class action settlement
The SE Texas Record reports on Ted Frank's victory in an objection to a proposed Honda Motors settlement which would defraud thousands of consumers.
Blog
In the news
Forbes.com: interviewed discussing warning labels Los Angeles Times: quoted on the future feeding frenzy around Toyota Triangle Business Journal: commenting…
Blog
Forbes on Redish on class actions
Excellent article in Forbes on liberal professor Martin Redish’s take on class actions. Redish sees similar constitutional difficulties with so-called cy pres (pronounced…
Blog
Rubber stamps for two settlements
Judge Snyder has (all but literally) rubber-stamped the objectionable settlements in the AOL e-mail footer and Yahoo advertising cases. We are likely to…
Blog
Lonardo v. Travelers Indemnity
A lawsuit against two home insurance companies settled for $8.69/policy year for class members who submit a claim by mail—and $6.6 million for the attorneys.
Blog
Roundup
I’m speaking at NYU Law January 21 on class action issues. I’m quoted in Legal Newsline on Schwarzenegger’s proposed class action reforms. Aside…
Blog
Coverage at the Volokh Conspiracy
Todd Zywicki at the Volokh Conspiracy writes about the Center for Class Action Fairness, and commenters debate the issue.
Blog
Fairchild v. AOL briefing
Additional issues arise in the response to the motion for settlement. 1) Is an email notifying subscribers of a pre-existing policy substantive injunctive relief…
Legal Newsline
AGs oppose Honda class action settlement
Legal Newsline reports on Center for Class Action Fairness' objection to a Honda settlement that provides the plaintiff lawyers with a huge payout at the…
Blog
Objection to Yahoo! “Sponsored Search” settlement
In In re Yahoo! Litigation, Case No. CV06-2737 CAS (FMOx), plaintiffs’ lawyers seek approval to settle a class action over alleged problems in…
Blog
Honda Civic Hybrid class action settlement objection
In True v. American Honda Motor Co., Case No. 07-cv-00287 VAP (OPx), trial lawyers seek to settle consumer fraud litigation over mileage claims…
Blog
AOL Footer case – Fairchild v. AOL objection to proposed settlement
Four plaintiffs represented by three law firms sued AOL for including advertising in the footers of emails and failing to make it sufficiently easy for…
Washingtonian
Top Lawyers
The Washingtonian discusses with Ted Frank the rise in the cost of hiring a lawyer. In the last 20 years or so, “multibillion-dollar…
Blog
Court strikes down Ameritrade settlement
$1.87 million in attorneys’ fees for a worthless settlement will not be collected; Judge Vaughn Walker denied settlement approval. From the perspective of…
Blog
Dannon Activia class action settlement
A stipulation of settlement has been filed in the Dannon Activia yogurt consumer-fraud case. A $35 million fund will be established to pay claim…
Blog
“The Cy Pres Racket”
Karen Lee Torre, in the Connecticut Law Tribune, hates cy pres even more than I do, so we’ll be seeing her Sep. 28…
Blog
In the Recorder
The Recorder has a brief piece on CCAF on their blog.