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
News Release
Up to $9 Million to Return to Class Action Members in Successful Settlement Objection
Late last week the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled in Ascena v. Rougvie that the $14 million fee request by…
Comment
Ted Frank’s Testimony before the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice Examination of Litigation Abuse
View Document as PDF Class actions were designed to provide injured parties with a more efficient means of accessing justice by aggregating claims…
Litigation
Allen v. Similasan Corp.
CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness (CCAF) filed an objection on July 1, 2016, to the proposed settlement in Allen v. Similasan, which proposed to…
Law.com
Fees Could Become Bone of Contention in Aftermath of VW Accord
Law.com discusses the settlement in the Volkswagen defeat device case with CEI's Center for Class Action Fairness founder Ted Frank. Volkswagen, by contrast,…
News Release
CEI Challenges Settlement in Similasan Corp. Case where Lawyers get Payday and Class gets Nothing
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is asking the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of California to reject a settlement in Allen v.
Law.com
At Trial Firms, Extraordinary Payouts Cover Ordinary Expenses
Law.com discusses attorney fees in class action settlements with CEI's Center for Class Action Fairness's Ted Frank. One frequent critic of attorney fees…
Citation
Heightened Fees Vacated In Southwest Drink Coupon Suit
An Illinois federal judge on Wednesday backtracked on the addition of half a million dollars’ worth of attorneys’ fees to a class action settlement for…
Arkansas Business
Class-Action Sanctions Against Lawyers Threaten Other Cases
Arkansas Business discusses a district judge's sanctions of 16 attorneys in an insurance class-action case with Center for Class Action Fairness's Ted Frank. …
Cook County Record
Quick payoff or material disclosure? 7th Circuit to weigh in on Walgreens shareholder class action deal
Cook County Record discusses Center for Class Action Fairness's objection to the unfair class action settlement in the Hays v. Walgreens Co. case. …
Blog
The Seventh Circuit Considers a Costly But Useless Shareholder Settlement in the Walgreens Merger
OK, that’s a slight exaggeration. In recent years, about 97 percent of sizable mergers (those valued at $100 million or more) have been hit by…
Legal Newsline
Public interest firm takes fight over class action settlement to U.S. SC
Legal NewsLine discusses CEI's Center for Class Action Fairness's petition filed with the Supreme Court with Adam Schulman. A Washington, D.C.-based public interest…
Cook County Record
Big Green’s out-sized influence over free speech
The Cook County Record reports on Center for Class Action Fairness's objection of the Southwest Airlines class action settlement. After the deal was…
Cook County Record
Judge Awards $450k More to Attorneys Already Paid $1.6 Million for Class Action vs Southwest over Flight Drink Vouchers
After beating back an appeal of the settlement agreement that granted them more than $1.6 million in fees, the attorneys who represented a group of…
Litigation
Rougvie v. Ascena Retail Group
On July 29, 2016 the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled in Ascena v. Rougvie that the $14 million fee request by…
Arkansas Business
Fewer Than 5 Percent Filed Claims in Controversial Class-Action Case
Arkansas Business discusses class action settlement claims with Center for Class Action Fairness's Ted Frank. Usually the percentage of claims made in a…
Litigation
Rodriguez v. It’s Just Lunch International
The Center for Class Action Fairness represents National class member Michael Barton in objecting to this nationwide class action. CCAF filed an objection on behalf of…
Talk Media News
Monday, April 11, 2016
Talk Media News reports on CEI's Center for Class Action Fairness's appeal of the Target data breach settlement. The Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center…
News Release
CEI Objects to It’s Just Lunch Settlement
Objecting today to the nationwide class action settlement in Rodriguez v. It’s Just Lunch, The Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Class Action Fairness (CEI) seeks…
News Release
CEI Appeals Target Data Breach Settlement That Freezes Out Millions of Customers
The Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Class Action Fairness this week appealed a settlement deal giving $6.75 million to plaintiffs’ lawyers in the aftermath of…
CNS News
CEI Appeals Footlong Subway Settlement: Lawyers Got $520K, Most Plaintiffs ‘Got Nothing’
CNS News reports on Center for Class Action Fairness's objection of the Subway Footlong settlement. A court-approved $525,000 settlement over a less-than-Footlong Subway…
Legal Newsline
Window maker wants class action dismissed nearly two years after it was remanded
Legal Newsline discusses Center for Class Action Fairness's objection of the Pella Window settlement. Litigation against Pella began in 2006 over allegations that…
Blog
Subway Footlong Sandwich Settlement Now on Appeal
CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness has appealed the district court’s approval of the Subway Footlong settlement to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The…
Litigation
Jane Doe v. Twitter
The Center for Class Action Fairness represented objectors to settlement with twitter concerning data privacy. The settlement consisted only of cy pres money to a…
Bloomberg BNA
Ted Frank: Lightning Rod for Class Settlement Storms
Bloomberg BNA profiles Ted Frank, director of CEI's Center for Class Action Fairness, and his fight against unfair class action settlements. Greed is…
Westlaw
Ted Frank’s cy pres cert petition goes to SCOTUS conference Friday
Reuter's Westlaw reports on a case the U.S. Supreme Court is considering hearing based on Center for Class Action Fairness's objection to an unfair class action…
Blog
Collusive Deals with Class Action Lawyers before the Supreme Court
Class-action lawsuits are commonly settled for things that benefit the lawyers bringing them, not the class of allegedly victimized people they are supposedly suing on…
Daily Caller
Supreme Court Could End Trial Lawyer Paydays
The Daily Caller reports on the Center for Class Action Fairness's case the Supreme Court is considering hearing. The high court will decide…
News Release
CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness Appeals Bad Settlement Deal in Walgreen-Boots Merger
The Center for Class Action Fairness at the Competitive Enterprise Institute appealed a settlement deal that granted $370,000 in fees to plaintiffs’ lawyers and gave…
National Law Journal
Brief of the Week: Will Battery Class Action Energize Supreme Court?
The National Law Journal features Ted Frank's work on the Center for Class Action Fairness's case Frank v. Poertner. Fank's beef is that many…
Bloomberg BNA
Subway Foot-Long Sandwich Settlement Approved
Bloomberg BNA reports on Center for Class Action Fairness's objection to the Subway class action lawsuit settlement over measurements of their footlong sandwiches. The…
JD Supra
BakerHostetler 2015 Year-End Review of Class Actions
BakerHostetler cites CEI's Center for Class Action Fairness's case in their 2015 Class Action Fairness Year-End Review. Second, in December, the Competitive Enterprise…
Forbes
Possibly The Worst Class Action Settlement Ever Approved
Forbes praises Center for Class Action Fairness and highlights portions of their appellate brief. Objectors have appealed Judge Vratil’s decision. Among them is my friend…
News Release
CEI Appeals Hot Fuels Settlement That Awards Millions to Lawyers, Zero to Class
A class action settlement involving gasoline fuel temperature could mean big fees and a lobbying slush fund for lawyers, with no benefit to consumers –…
Reuters
Investor gets $450,000 fee for leading Kinder Morgan lawsuit
Reuters quotes Center for Class Action Fairness's Ted Frank on the settlement of a class action case. Ted Frank, a critic of what he…
Reason
Lyft, Uber Drivers Shouldn’t Be Treated Like Employees
Reason cites Center for Class Action Fairness's founder Ted Frank on Lyft's class action settlement. Any Lyft driver who completed at least one ride…
The New York Times
A Little Walmart Gift Card for You, a Big Payout for Lawyers
The New York Times discusses Center for Class Action Fairness's objection to the Walmart and Netflix class-action settlement with Ted Frank. Appeals court delays…
News Release
CEI Applauds Reduction in Attorneys’ Fees in Polyurethane Foam Antitrust Settlement
Yesterday the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio denied the indirect purchaser plaintiffs’ attorneys their full requested fees in the Polyurethane Foam…
Journal Sentinel
Objectors say Subway sandwich settlement comes up short
Journal Sentinel reports on Ted Frank’s objection to the Subway sandwich class action settlement. Theodore Frank, founder of the Center for Class Action…
Washington Examiner
Obama’s big bank ‘slush fund’
Washington Examiner discusses with Ted Frank, how banks get double credit for their donations ordered by settlements. Not only do both banks get double…
News Release
CEI Identifies Problems with Cy Pres Awards in Google Settlement
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Class Action Fairness (CCAF) filed a reply brief in the Gaos v. Google…
The Federalist Society
When Enough is not Enough: Frank v. Poertner – Podcast
Listen to the podcast In this class action case, counsel for the plaintiffs received over 94% of the total cash recovery provided…
Op-Eds
Prospective Injunctive Relief And Class Settlements
View Full Document as PDF In 2012 the District of Kansas approved the settlement of a class action against Costco brought on behalf…
Citation
Ted Frank’s Radical Proposal: Reverse Auction for Lead Counsel in VW MDL
Reuters' Alison Frankel covers CEI's latest amicus brief in the Volkswagen clean diesel emissions litigation. Lead counsel reverse auctions fell out of favor amid…
Legal Brief
Amicus Brief Filed in Black Farmers Discrimination Litigation
Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Class Action Fairness (CCAF) filed an amicus brief arguing unclaimed funds from the settlement in In re Black Farmers Discrimination Litigation should…
News Release
CEI Files Amicus Brief in Support of Returning Funds to Black Farmers Discriminated Against by the USDA
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Class Action Fairness (CCAF) filed an amicus brief arguing unclaimed funds from the settlement in In…
News Release
CEI Asks for Rehearing on Settlement in Berry v. Lexis
Today the Center for Class Action Fairness (CCAF), a project of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the…
News Release
Customer Fights Fat Reward for Lawyers in Subway Short-Sandwich Lawsuit
In a lawsuit over Subway's "footlong" sandwiches that don't measure up, CEI's Center for Class Action Fairness (CCAF) on Tuesday challenged a proposed class action settlement that…
Reuters
Subway ‘footlong’ sandwich deal doesn’t measure up, objector says
A class-action activist is taking aim at a proposed settlement in litigation over marketing for Subway’s 6- and 12-inch sandwiches, saying the deal offers nothing…
Litigation
Subway Footlong Sandwich Marketing And Sales Practices Litigation
In a victory for consumers, CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness successfully objected to an abusive class action settlement in a case about the length of…
Fortune
Should Plaintiffs Lawyers Get 94% of A Class Action Settlement?
Fortune reports on the Center for Class Action Fairness' petition to the Supreme Court to review the Duracell class action settlement. On Saturday,…
Blog
CCAF Asks Supreme Court to Hear Challenge on Duracell Class Action Settlement
Today, the Center for Class Action Fairness petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case challenging an abusive class action practice where trial lawyers pay themselves…
News Release
CEI Challenges Duracell Battery Class Action Settlement, Files Cert Petition Before U.S. Supreme Court
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Class Action Fairness (CCAF) filed a cert petition before the U.S. Supreme Court asking for review…
News Release
Circuit Split Created Over Injunctive Relief in Class Action Lawsuits
Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld a lower court’s ruling in a settlement case against Lexis Nexis, setting an unfortunate…
USA Today
FAA task force aims to register drone hobbyists
USA Today discusses the FAA drone registration rules and cites Marc Scribner on the predicted results of such regulations. A 2012 law that…
News Release
CCAF Objects to Egregious 30% Fee Grab by Counsel in Polyurethane Class Suit Settlement
Today the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Class Action Fairness (CCAF) filed an objection to the class action settlements in the Polyurethane Foam Antitrust Litigation.
Litigation
Polyurethane Foam Antitrust Litigation
On November 12, 2015, the Center for Class Action Fairness (CCAF) at CEI filed an objection in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District…
News Release
Center for Class Action Fairness Objects to Plaintiff Lawyer ‘Merger Tax’ in Walgreen-Boots Merger
The Center for Class Action Fairness at the Competitive Enterprise Institute late Thursday filed an objection to the exorbitant fees sought by plaintiffs’ lawyers related…
Legal Newsline
Newspaper calls out binding arbitration, but forces clause on its own consumers
Legal Newsline quotes Ted Frank in their discussion of courts' efforts to bar class action lawsuits which demonstrate greater concern for trial-lawyers than for consumer's interest.
Legal Newsline
Center for Class Action Fairness argues selection of Volkswagen MDL court is ‘critical’
Legal Newline discusses CEI's filing of an amicus brief over the litigation against Volkswagen, the group cites Ted Frank for more details on the case.
Wall Street Journal
Value of Beck’s Beer Settlement a Case Study in Class Action Math
Wall Street Journal discusses the Center for Class Action Fairness' recent settlement and references Ted Frank on class action settlements. Litigator and class-action…
National Law Review
Volkswagen Litigation Provokes Criticism in Rare Form
The National Law review discusses Center for Class Action Fairness's recent amicus brief filed by Ted Frank for the Volkswagen case. Amicus briefs…
Legal Brief
Amicus Brief: Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation
Full Document Available in PDF The Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Class Action Fairness filed an amicus brief before the Judicial…
News Release
CEI Files Class Action Fairness Brief in Volkswagen Emissions Scandal Litigation
The Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Class Action Fairness filed an amicus brief today before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, the body deciding…
Blog
A Class Merger: CEI and the Center for Class Action Fairness Get Hitched
Litigation has been an important part of CEI since its earliest years—from our NYC rent control case in the 1980s, to our lawsuits against the…
Washington Post
Free-market (think tank) merger
Washington Post announces CEI's merger with the Center for Class Action Fairness. Today the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and the Center for Class…
News Release
Competitive Enterprise Institute and Center for Class Action Fairness Announce Merger
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) announced a merger with the Center for Class Action Fairness (CCAF), a public interest law firm. CEI and…
Litigation
True v. American Honda Motor Company
The Center for Class Action Fariness’s client objected to this settlement over fuel-economy advertising because plaintiffs’ lawyers sought nearly $3M for themselves and merely coupons…
Litigation
TD Ameritrade Accountholder Litigation
In this settlement over a data security breach, plaintiffs’ lawyers were seeking $1.87M for themselves and only vouchers for the class: the district court upheld…
Litigation
Sobel v. Hertz Corporation
The Center’s client objected to this settlement over car rental fees wherein plaintiffs’ lawyers sought $1.5M for themselves but only coupons for the class; the…
Litigation
Lonardo v. Travelers Indemnity Company
In this settlement over insurance pricing, the Center’s client objected that plaintiffs’ lawyers sought $6.6M when the class would only receive $2.8M; in response, the…
Litigation
Classmates.com Consolidated Litigation
The Center’s client objected to a settlement over deceptive advertising that promised over $1M to plaintiffs’ lawyers and about $100,000 to the class. The court…
Litigation
Robert F. Booth Trust v. Crowley
The Center objected to this shareholder-derivative settlement offering no value to shareholders and $925,000 to plaintiffs’ lawyers. The district court denied the Center’s motion to intervene,…
Litigation
Nachshin v. AOL, LLC
This settlement over email advertising inappropriately channeled settlement funds to third parties unrelated to the class. The Ninth Circuit sustained the Center’s objection and reversed…
Litigation
Bluetooth Headset Products Liability Litigation
Plaintiffs sued three manufacturers of Bluetooth headsets alleging consumer fraud for failure to adequately warn of hearing loss risk. CCAF objected to the settlement that…
Litigation
American Express Anti-Steering Rules Antitrust Litigation
The Center for Class Action Fairness successfully objected to the settlement of an antitrust case where the class would only receive injunctive relief of uncertain…
Litigation
Colgate-Palmolive Softsoap Antibacterial Hand Soap Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation
In this action, Plaintiffs allege that defendant falsely marketed an ingredient in its antibacterial soap as eliminating 99% of germs. CCAF objected to the settlement…
Litigation
Target Corporation Customer Data Security Breach Litigation
CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness objected to an unfair settlement deal resulting from the much-publicized 2013 data breach at retail giant Target Corporation. Forty-one…
Litigation
Transpacific Passenger Air Transportation Antitrust Litigation
The Center for Class Action Fairness (CCAF) at CEI filed an appeal brief in the Transpacific Passenger Air Transportation Antitrust Litigation on November 4, 2015,…
Litigation
In re Google Referrer Header Privacy Litigation
In the original case, Gaos v. Google, plaintiffs sued Google seeking trillions of dollars in statutory damages for alleged federal privacy violations over their search…
Litigation
Berry v. LexisNexis
CEI appealed the district court’s approval of a settlement over data marketing practices, from which class members cannot even opt out, and under which class…
Litigation
Frank v. Poertner
CCAF objected in Poertner v. Gillette Co., a settlement of consumer fraud claims over Duracell batteries where the attorneys received $5.7 million and the class…
Litigation
Southwest Airlines Voucher Litigation
The Center’s client objected to a settlement over Southwest drink coupons given to “Business Select” passengers as a perk. Thanks to the Center’s involvement in…
Litigation
Fraley v. Facebook
Fraley, et al. v. Facebook, Inc., et al. was a class action lawsuit against Facebook in 2011 alleging the company used Facebook users’ names, pictures, and identities without…
Litigation
Blackman v. Gascho
In Blackman v. Gascho, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) sought Supreme Court review for a challenge to a lopsided class action settlement agreement that left…
Litigation
Martin v. Blessing
The Center initially objected to this settlement because, among other problems, its value to class members did not justify the $13M attorneys’ fees request. Ultimately,…
Litigation
Marek v. Lane
The Center was retained to petition the Supreme Court for review of a settlement that gave $0 for the class, $3.2M to the attorneys, and…
Litigation
Bayer Corporation Combination Aspirin Products Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation
As a result of the Center’s objection, the parties modified the settlement to increase direct payments to the class by over $5.8M. Our second objection…
Litigation
Baby Products Antitrust Litigation
This case involved a settlement of consolidated antitrust class actions brought by consumers against retailers Toys “R” Us, Babies “R” Us and several baby product…
Litigation
HP Inkjet Printer Litigation
The Ninth Circuit held that the Class Action Fairness Act requires that when class members obtain coupons in a settlement, the lawyers’ fees attributable to those…
Litigation
Dry Max Pampers Litigation
CCAF objected to this $0 settlement between Proctor & Gamble Company and consumers who purchased certain kinds of Pampers diapers where class counsel requested $2.73…
Litigation
Johnson & Johnson Derivative Litigation
The Center objected to a settlement that paid the class $0, established meaningless corporate governance changes, and paid the attorneys over $10 million: the court…
Litigation
Citigroup Inc. Securities Litigation
In 2013, CCAF (now part of CEI) objected to the fees in a securities class action in which class counsel sought an outsized percentage of…
Litigation
City of Livonia Employees Ret. Sys. v. Wyeth
The Center represented a shareholder objecting to a securities class action wherein the $16.5M plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fee request was 4.2 times their normal billing rate.
Litigation
Richardson v. L’Oreal USA
The district court sustained the Center’s objection to a settlement over shampoo labeling where the class would receive valueless injunctive relief and the attorneys sought…
Litigation
Magsafe Apple Power Adapter Litigation
In this settlement over Apple power adapters, the district court failed to appraise class relief compared to the $3M that the settlement awarded to plaintiffs’…
Litigation
Redman v. RadioShack Corp.
Plaintiffs sought statutory damages for RadioShack’s practice of printing expiration dates on credit card receipts. CCAF objected to a settlement that paid $1 million to…
Litigation
Pearson v. NBTY, Inc.
The Center became involved in the case in 2014 when it objected to a class action settlement that would have provided attorneys $4.5 million but…
Litigation
Careathers v. Red Bull North America, Inc.
In a false advertising case, the Center objected to the settlement that gave class counsel $4.75M because it was based on an exaggerated value ($18.5M)…
Litigation
Capital One Telephone Consumer Protection Act Litigation
CCAF’s client objected to a fee request where class counsel sought 30% of the $75.4 million settlement fund in a lightly-litigated Telephone Consumer Protection Act…
Litigation
BankAmerica Corporation Securities Litigation
After money from the settlement of a securities class action was distributed to the nationwide shareholder class, $2.7 million was left over. Instead of redistributing…