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 Boston Globe
Thornton Law, others to pay $2m for probe of their bills
Boston Globe discusses a class action suit against State Street Bank and Trust But when Judge Wolf asked the lawyers, including those from…
Fox News
GOP wants to eliminate shadowy DOJ slush fund bankrolling leftist groups
Fox News discusses a Department of Justice slush fund with CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness founder Ted Frank. “The underlying problem with…
Wall Street Journal
Consumer Activists Decry Bill to Limit Class-Action Lawsuits
The Wall Street Journal discusses the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017 with CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness’s founder Ted Frank.
Wall Street Journal
Consumer Activists Decry Bill to Limit Class-Action Lawsuits
The Wall Street Journal discusses the Fairness in Class Action Litigation of 2017 with CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness founder Ted Frank.
Law360
High Court Won’t Hear Challenge To Class Action Atty Fees
The U.S. Supreme Court will not review a settlement dispute in a consumer class action suit against a fitness company, it said in a Tuesday…
Comment
Comments of the Center for Class Action Fairness to the Civil Rules Advisory Committee on Federal Rule Civil Procedure 23
View Full Document as PDF It is important to understand that, in practice, rules relating to class-action settlements will most often be…
Cook County Record
Attorney fees clipped, class awards tripled under new deal to end Southwest drink voucher class action
Cook County Record discusses, with Melissa Holyoak, CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness’s objection of a Southwest settlement. At that point, the Washington,…
Today's General Counsel
Judge Launches Investigation Into Law Firms’ Inflated Bills
Today’s General Counsel discusses the investigation into Thornton Law Firm’s billing practices “This is very serious,” Ted Frank, a lawyer at the Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Blog
Conair Class Action Settlement Sets Our Hair on Fire
If you bought a Conair Infiniti Pro hair dryer before August 31, 2016 in New York or California, then you are probably part of a…
Washington Times
Protecting consumers from swindlers: How ‘fake facts’ make millions for class-action lawyers
For the Washington Times, senior attorney Ted Frank writes: "... trial lawyers can dodge the courts that balk at alternative facts and instead file settlements…
Litigation
Adams v. USAA
The Center of Class Action Fairness (CCAF) was appointed as a special amicus curiae to defend the judgement of the U.S. District Court for the…
Forbes
Supreme Court Mulls Case That Would Trim Fees In Class Actions
Forbes writer Daniel Fisher discusses CEI’s Supreme Court petition in Blackman v. Gascho: Blackman v. Gascho reprepresents a split between…
Top Class Actions
Target Data Breach Settlement Sent Back to District Court for Revisions
Top Class Actions discusses CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness’ objection in the Target data breach settlement: A federal appeals court has…
Blog
Attorney General and Trial Lawyer Collaboration Creates Revolting Blend
A new study documents unconstitutional collusion between state attorneys general and trial lawyers.
The Boston Globe
A federal judge is the latest to scrutinize Thornton Law
The Boston Globe discusses attorneys’ fees in class-action lawsuits with CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness founder Ted Frank. One expert on attorneys’…
Northern California Record
Lawsuit lives on after rejected Similasan settlement
Northern California Record discusses CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness’s objection of the Similasan settlement with Ted Frank. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a…
Arkansas Business
8th Circuit Hears Forum Shopping Case Involving Goodson
Arkansas Business discusses the Center for Class Action Fairness’ case Adams v. USAA: The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments…
Legal NewsLine
Eighth Circuit reverses, remands $10 million settlement in Target data breach class action
Legal NewsLine discusses CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness’s important ruling in their objection to the Target data breach class action settlement. “Over…
Boston Globe
A federal judge is the latest to scrutinize Thornton Law
Boston Globe discusses the investigation into Thornton Law Firm’s billings practices One expert on attorneys’ fees in class-action lawsuits said Wolf’s call for…
Blog
Trump Not Bound by Obama Volkswagen Settlement with EPA
The judicial settlement which was reached between Volkswagen and the U.S. Department of Justice last October infringes on President Trump’s Article II authority.
ABC News
Court Orders Review of Target Security Breach Settlement
ABC News and the Associated Press report on CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness’s appeal of the Target data breach settlement. A Minnesota…
Bloomberg BNA
$17M Target Breach Deal Imperiled by Conflict Allegations
Bloomberg BNA discusses an important ruling in CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness’s objection to the Target data brea Objectors to the fairness…
Cook County Record
Attorney fees in Johnson & Johnson baby bath products settlement raise eyebrows but spur no action
Cook County Record discusses CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness’s objection to a Johnson & Johnson class action settlement. A class-action lawsuit against Johnson…
News Release
Center for Class Action Fairness Wins Big in Southwest Airlines Coupons Case, Triples Relief for Class Members
This week, parties in a years-long class action over Southwest Airlines “premium drink” coupons settled in a win for the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for…
News Release
Eighth Circuit Remands Target Data Breach Settlement
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) received an important ruling today in its appeal of the settlement regarding the much-publicized 2013 data breach at retail…
American Bar Association Journal
Foot Fight: Subway sandwich suit raises class action questions
The American Bar Association Journal discusses the Center for Class Action Fairness’ Subway Footlong settlement: But customers arguably are getting a less tangible…
Litigation
Saska v. Metropolitan Museum of Art
Class member and CCAF attorney Anna St. John objected to settlement approval, class certification, and the request for attorneys’ fees in Saska v. Metropolitan Museum…
News Release
CEI Objects to Metropolitan Museum of Art Class Action Settlement
$350,000 attorneys’ fees provide no relief to class…
News Release
CEI Files Reply Brief to Supreme Court in Challenge to Global Fitness Class Action Settlement
Today CEI submitted a reply brief to the Supreme Court in a case involving windfall fees for class action attorneys at the expense of the…
The National Law Review
Google Pays $5.5M To No One: Cy Pres Problems & Expert Cures
The National Law Review reports on CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness’s objection to a Google class action settlement. Class members claim Google…
Legal Brief
Amicus Curiae: Adams v. USAA
View Full Document as PDF Instead of protecting the interests of their clients, class counsel forum-shopped the case to a jurisdiction that was…
Litigation
Edwards v. National Milk Producers Federation, et al.
On behalf of class member Joshua Holyoak, CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness objected to class counsel’s excessive fee request in Edwards v. Milk. Under Ninth…
News Release
CEI Objects to Shareholder Suit Settlement, Invokes Walgreen Decision
On behalf of objector David G. Duggan, the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Class Action Fairness is appealing the approval of the settlement of a…
Legal NewsLine
Public-interest firm calls $5.5 million settlement with Google over privacy settings ‘unacceptable’
Legal NewLine reports on CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness’s objection to an unfair Google class action settlement. A public-interest law firm that…
Top Class Actions
Google’s $5.5M Settlement Fails to Benefit Class Members, Objector Says
Top Class Actions reports on and objection to an unfair class action settlement from CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness’s founder, Ted Frank. Class…
JD Journal
Boston Globe Exposes Cost Inflating Class-Action Attorneys
JD Journal investigates Boston Globe’s exposer of class- action attorneys While critics of inflated billing exist, they still acknowledge that attorneys who take…
News Release
CEI Objects to Multi-Million Dollar Windfall for Attorneys in Volkswagen Class Action Litigation
This week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s (CEI) Center for Class Action Fairness filed an objection to the massive attorneys’ fees and costs—$175 million—being…
Litigation
In re Google Inc. Cookie Placement Consumer Privacy Litigation
CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness is challenging the legality of a class action settlement with Google that provides millions of dollars to the attorneys, and…
News Release
CEI Objects to Unfair Settlement Deal in Google Privacy Case
The Center for Class Action Fairness at the Competitive Enterprise Institute objected to the settlement in the lawsuit In re Google Inc. Cookie Placement Consumer…
Arkansas Business
‘He Wasn’t Unkind, but He Was a Crook’ – Best Quotes of 2016
Arkansas Business lists a quote by Ted Frank as one of the best quotes of 2016. “The fact of the matter is that…
The Boston Globe
Critics hit law firms’ bills after class-action lawsuits
The Boston Globe discusses Thornton Law Firm’s legal fees in class-action lawsuits with CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness’s founder Ted Frank. Critics of…
Boston Globe
Critics hit law firms’ bills after class-action lawsuits
Boston Globe discusses the State Street Bank and Trust Lawsuit by the Thornton Law Firm Critics of the way lawyers are paid in…
Blog
Appeal Heard on ‘Hot Fuel’ Class Action Settlements
Last month, the Tenth Circuit heard argument in CEI’s appeal of the “Hot Fuel” settlements. This is the case where the plaintiffs sued most major…
Blog
Challenging Class Action Law’s ‘Professional Objectors’
Earlier this week the Center for Class Action Fairness filed a motion to intervene and seek disgorgement from for-profit “professional objectors” in the case of…
Wall Street Journal
Lawsuits Allege ‘Objector Blackmail’ in Class Action Litigation
The Wall Street Journal discusses with Ted Frank a motion filed by CEI's Center for Class Action Fairness in the case Pearson v. NBTY, Inc. …
Litigation
Williamson v. McAfee; Kirby v. McAfee
CCAF objected to the approval of a settlement that allocates a disproportionate share of the settlement proceeds to the attorneys and has all of the…
Litigation
Aron v. Crestwood Midstream Partners
On behalf of objector David G. Duggan, CCAF is appealing the approval of the settlement of a shareholder suit in which the plaintiffs’ attorneys received…
Bloomberg BNA
Costco, Others Disputing ‘Hot Gas’ Deals at 10th Cir.
Bloomnberg BNA discusses CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness’s objection to a settlement over the temperature of gasoline. The U.S. District Court for…
Blog
National Sandwich Day Sharpens Hunger for Subway Class Action Decision
It’s a good day to get a deal on a sandwich. It’s also a good day to take note of the case we’ve got pending,…
News Release
CEI Appeals Class Action Settlement Award to Political Groups in Citigroup Case
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) appealed a ruling in the Citigroup Inc. Securities Litigation on Wednesday that allows class action settlement funds to be distributed…