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.”
Featured Posts
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…
Search Posts
The Daily Caller
Senate Kills Obama-Era Financial Rule
The Daily Caller discusses the repeal of the CFPB anti-arbitration rule with Ted Frank. The Senate narrowly laid to rest a Consumer Financial Protection…
News Release
Class Counsel seeks $575,000 in settlement that gives class nothing
The Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Class Action Fairness opposed a settlement in Ma v. Harmless Harvest, a class action dispute over claims of organic…
Bloomberg Politics
California Helps Workers Sue Their Bosses. New York Has Noticed
Bloomberg Politics discusses arbitration with Ted Frank. Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court …
Litigation
Ma v. Harmless Harvest, Inc.
Class member and CCAF attorney Anna St. John objected to settlement approval, class certification, and the request for attorneys’ fees in Ma v. Harmless Harvest, Inc. The…
Blog
Fat-Cat Attorneys’ Bogus Arguments on Arbitration Rule
Fat cat class-action attorneys and their apologists are getting desperate.
Blog
Coupon Settlements: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
Coupon awards are notoriously bad for consumers in class action settlements. So bad that Congress targeted such relief, among other class action abuses, in the…
JD Supra
Monkey See, Monkey Do…Monkey Own? The Curious Case of Naruto v. Slater
JD Supra covers CEI’s amicus brief in Naruto v. Slater. When wildlife photographer David Slater set up his camera in the rainforests of Indonesia, he…
JD Supra
Seventh Circuit Rejects Subway Footlong Class Settlement as a “Racket”
JD Supra covers the Subway ‘footlong’ settlement. A recent Seventh Circuit decision pushed back on a proposed settlement of the Subway “footlong sub” class…
Litigation
Carlyle v. Akorn, Inc. et al.
Last year the Center for Class Action Fairness (CCAF) and CEI won an appellate victory over the self-serving Walgreens shareholder settlement, where the Seventh…
Blog
Ohio Drug Price Initiative Gives Taxpayer Money to Unnecessary Lawyers
Lawyers and allied interest groups have long enriched themselves at taxpayers’ expense. But usually, it has been by bringing lawsuits, not defending them.
Courier-Post
Footlong Appeal Comes Up Short for Evesham Law Firm
Courier-Post covers the Subway ‘footlong’ settlement. A South Jersey law firm has come up short in a dispute over Subway’s Footlong sandwiches.
Reason
Too Many Calories in Your Candy? That’s a Lawsuit!
Reason covers food-based class-action suits like the Subway ‘footlong’ settlement. Last week, the Chicago Tribune reported that an area man had sued…
Bloomberg BNA
Posner Leaves ‘Enormous Imprint’ on Class Actions
Bloomberg BNA discusses Judge Richard Posner with Ted Frank. Judge Richard Posner’s many class action rulings over the years have been “enormously influential,”…
Forbes
Appeals Court Tosses One of the Most Absurd Class Action Cases of All Time
Forbes Online covers the Subway ‘footlong’ settlement. The plaintiffs’ bar has perfected a system for extracting money from firms. It works like this:…
National Review Online
Trial Lawyers Try to Take a Bite Out of Subway; Now Regret It
National Review Online covers the Subway ‘footlong’ case. A law firm thought it had an easy case when a photo showed a Subway…
News Release
CEI Seeks Rehearing in ‘Hot Fuels’ Settlement That Awards Millions to Lawyers, Zero to Class
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today asked a federal appeals court for a rehearing in its appeal of several unfair class action settlements concerning a new…
News Release
CEI Seeks Full En Banc Review in Google Referrer Case
The Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Class Action Fairness (CCAF) requested rehearing or en banc review in the Gaos v. Google settlement case on September 5, 2017. The…
Wall Street Journal
Congress Can Rescind the CFPB’s Gift to Trial Lawyers
Do Americans need more lawsuits? They’ll get them if the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has its way. The CFPB—created by the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010…
Cato
Congress Risks the Constitution in New Jersey Sports Betting Case
Cato covers the amicus brief filed in Christie v. NCAA. The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which Congress passed in 1992,…
Legal Reader
Appeals Court Tosses Out Subway Footlong Sandwich Case
Legal Reader covers the Subway ‘footlong’ settlement. It’s happened to many people across the country. After a trip to subway and ordering a…
MSN Money
10 Ridiculous Lawsuits and the Insane Payouts They Sought
MSN Money covers the Subway ‘footlong’ settlement. In 2013, a group of Subway customers filed a class action lawsuit against the chain, claiming…
Fox News
Subway’s $5 ‘Footlong’ Lawsuit Gets Nixed by Judge
Fox News covers the Subway ‘footlong’ settlement. A $520,000 class action lawsuit over Subway’s “$5 footlong” is not measuring up, according to a…
JD Supra
Subway Settlement Giving Attorneys a Lot of Dough Doesn’t Measure Up
JD Supra covers the Subway ‘footlong’ settlement. A settlement giving the class attorneys $525,000 without giving customers any meaningful benefits was thrown out…
Las Vegas Review-Journal
EDITORIAL: Judges Toss Out Settlement in Subway Foot-long Shakedown
Las Vegas Review-Journal covers the Subway ‘footlong’ settlement. Judges are the key to combating lawsuit abuse. Too often, however, they indulge the worst…
Washington Post
A Class Action That Is ‘No Better Than a Racket’
Washington Post covers the Subway ‘footlong’ settlement. Friday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit reversed a district court’s approval of…
Nation's Restaurant News
Appeals Court Rejects Subway Foot-Long Settlement
Nation’s Restaurant News discusses the Subway ‘footlong’ settlement with Ted Frank. A U.S. appeals court threw out a settlement between Subway and its…
USA Today
Court’s New Math in Subway Foot-Long Sub Lawsuit: Zero + Zero = Zero
USA Today discusses the Subway ‘footlong’ settlement with Adam Schulman. A class-action lawsuit that almost extracted $520,000 out of Subway over the length…
Wall Street Journal
Nixing the $520,000 ‘Footlong’
The Wall Street Journal discusses the Subway ‘footlong’ settlement with Ted Frank. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has given the plaintiffs bar…
Wall Street Journal
VIDEO: Opinion Journal: Subway’s Sandwich Settlement
Wall Street Journal’s Opinion Journal covers Ted Frank and CEI’s win in the Subway settlement.
Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
Subway Sub-Length Litigation Slammed
Chicago Daily Law Bulletin discusses the Subway ‘footlong’ settlement with Ted Frank. It’s not only some Subway sandwiches that don’t measure up, according…
MediaPost
Appeals Court Approves Google’s $8.5 Million Data Leak Settlement
MediaPost discusses In re Google Inc. Cookie Placement Consumer Privacy Litigation with Ted Frank. A federal appellate panel has upheld Google’s $8.5 million…
The Washington Times
Appeals Court Rejects ‘Worthless’ Subway Foot-long Settlement Between Sandwich Chain and Customers
The Washington Times covers the Subway footlong settlement. A federal appeals court has rejected a class-action settlement between the Subway sandwich chain and…
Wall Street Journal
Appeals Court Throws Out Settlement in Subway ‘Footlong’ Case
Wall Street Journal discusses the Subway ‘footlong’ settlement with Ted Frank. In a case alleging Subway restaurant consumers got too little dough, judges…
News Release
Third Party Cy Pres Awards in Google Settlement Unfair to Class
The Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Class Action Fairness (CCAF) today filed a reply brief in In re Google Inc. Cookie Placement Consumer Privacy Litigation…
The Daily Report
7th Circuit Says ‘Utterly Worthless’ Subway Footlong Settlement Has No Meat
The Daily Report discusses the Subway class-action settlement with Ted Frank. The litigation saga over Subway’s sometimes-undersized sandwiches neared its end Friday…
Reuters
‘Worthless’ Subway ‘Footlong’ Sandwich Settlement is Thrown Out: U.S. Court
Reuters discusses the Subway class-action settlement with Ted Frank. A U.S. federal appeals court on Friday threw out a class-action settlement intended to…
News Release
CEI Gets Win for Consumers in Subway Footlong Settlement
In a victory for class action fairness, an appeals court rejected a settlement in the Subway Footlong case that would have paid plaintiffs’ attorneys over…
The Register
Google’s $8.5m Class-Action Privacy Payout Goes to: Lawyers’ Alma Maters, Web Giant’s Pals
The Register covers Ted Frank’s arguments in a Google consumer privacy case. The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has narrowly approved an…
Blog
President’s Summer Policy Update
When it comes to the institutions of capitalism, the advance of human welfare, and liberty, we are here because we love the work.
Bloomberg BNA
Charity Loses $700K Award After Complaining About Gift Cards
Bloomberg BNA discusses Hochstetler v. Pacific Gateway Consession, LLC with Ted Frank. Pacific Gateway Concessions and a consumer class found a new recipient…
Law360
Consumer Advocates Say Target Deal Excludes Millions
Law360 discusses the Target Corporation Customer Data Security Breach Litigation with Melissa Holyoak. Consumer advocates on Tuesday urged the Eighth Circuit to reverse a…
News Release
Unfair Target Data Breach Settlement Returns to Appeals Court
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today filed additional briefing requested by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals about an unfair class action settlement stemming from the 2013 Target…
News Release
Facebook Settlement Illustrates the Worst of Lawyer-Driven Class Actions
This week, CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness (CCAF) argued against a cynical Facebook class action settlement that provides $3.9 million in fees and…
The Recorder
Despite Objections, Facebook Message-Scanning Settlement Approved
The Recorder discusses our objection in Campbell v. Facebook, a case in which the plaintiffs’ attorneys recover $3.9 million while the class gets only injunctive relief. …
News Release
Lithium Case Unfairly Groups Nationwide Class Together
Objecting to the class certification and settlement in In re Lithium Ion Batteries Antitrust Litigation, the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Class Action Fairness…
Litigation
Lithium Ion Batteries Antitrust Litigation
In this antitrust price-fixing case, the settlement includes a nationwide class indirect purchasers of lithium ion batteries in a variety of electronic equipment. Only about…
FindLaw
Lawyers Avoid Federal Sanctions in Forum Shopping Case
FindLaw covers CEI’s amicus brief in Adams v. USAA Casualty Insurance Company. Usually, judges like to see cases settled. But Judge…
Legal Newsline
Senate Obamacare Repeal Failures Warning Sign for Business and Banking Communities on Rescinding Anti-Arbitration Rule
Legal Newsline discusses CEI’s case against the CFPB with Sam Kazman. Business and banking interests are working to ensure that an upcoming Senate…
Bloomberg Businessweek
This Lawyer Is Making It Less Profitable to Sue When Companies Merge
Bloomberg Businessweek profiles Ted Frank and his incredible work protecting consumers, shareholders, and the rule of law at CEI's Center for Class Action Fairness.
Reuters
8th Circuit Says Forum Shopping Is Fine, As Long As It’s Bilateral
Reuters covers CEI’s argument in Adams v. USAA Casualty. Yes, you read the headline right. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled…