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
Litigation
EasySaver Rewards Litigation
In 2013, CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness objected to and then appealed the approval of a nationwide class settlement where 0.2% of the class received…
Law360
Colgate-Palmolive Defends $2M Bid To End Hand Soap MDL
Law 360 discusses CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness’ case objecting to a $2 million Colgate settlement: Colgate-Palmolive Co. defended a proposed $2…
Litigation
Motor Fuel Temperature Sales Practices Litigation
CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness appealed the approval of several settlements in multi-district litigation concerning the sale of motor fuel, which has been ongoing…
Compliance Insights
Citi Settles at $590Mn, So Lawyers Settle for 17%- Citi Objects
Compliance Insights discusses the case in which lawyers representing class members in a case against Citigroup, charge exorbitant fees and hourly rates. The…
Top Class Actions
Class Action Fariness Advocate Objects to Softsoap Class Action Settlement
Top Class Actions discusses CEI’s Center for Class Action Fairness’ objection in the SoftSoap class action settlement: The objection was filed by objector…
Litigation
Walgreen Co. Stockholder Litigation
On November 5, 2015, the Center for Class Action Fairness (CCAF) at CEI filed an objection to the unfair class action settlement in Hays v.
Blog
In re Capital One TCPA Litigation Seventh Circuit appeal
Litigation over whether Capital One and its affiliates violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act settled for $75.5 million—about $4 for each of the 17.5 million…
Blog
In re Online DVD Antitrust Litigation: adverse decision and en banc petition
You might recall the settlement approval in Online DVD Antitrust Litigation we briefed back in 2012. A district court held that the Wal-Mart $12.03…
Blog
Big cy pres victory in 8th Circuit: Oetting v. Green Jacobson
with new opinion from 8th Circ, @tedfrank continues to reshape fed. judicial policy on giving class money to charity http://t.co/D1Yy3BgJu9—…
Reuters
U.S. court voids payout of unclaimed funds in BofA class action
Reuters discusses Center for Class Action Fairness's victory in Oetting v. Green Jacobson PC, 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 13-2620 Thursday's…
Forbes
Seventh Circuit Continues Scrutiny Of Class Action Settlements And ‘Cy Pres’
Forbes discusses the Center for Class Action Fairness’s objection in Pearson v. NBTY The Center for Class Action Fairness objected to the settlement…
Forbes
Judge Tosses Glucosamine Settlement
Forbes discusses the Center for Class Action Fairness’ case in Pearson v. NBTY Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals…
Blog
Cy Pres You’ll Read This
Learn about the state of cy pres law without having to pay for a CLE class! Today, Washington Legal Foundation published a short and useful…
Blog
Oral Argument in Pearson v. NBTY, Inc.
Are you trick-and/or-treating in downtown Chicago this Halloween? If so, visit the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to watch oral argument…
Blog
Opening Brief in Gascho v. Global Fitness Holdings
Candy corn, pumpkin pie, egg nog . . . no wonder that three months from now we’ll all be joining gyms. So let’s inaugurate the…
Wall Street PR
RadioShack Corporation’s (RSH) Class-Action Settlement Anulled By Federal Appeals Court
Wall Street PR reports on the case in which the Seventh Circuit court sided with CCAF's argument that plaintiffs' lawyer fees must be proportionate to…
Stockwise Daily
Federal Appeals Court Declares Radioshack Corporation (RSH) Class-Action Settlement Void
Stockwise Daily reports on the Redman v. RadioShack Corp. and mentions Center for Class Action Fairness' Ted Frank and his reponse to the outcome of the case.
Blog
Victory! Redman v. Radioshack
CCAF won a tremendous victory for class members in Redman v. Radioshack, just eleven days after oral argument! Judge Richard Posner, a legal authority renowned…
Reuters
U.S. court voids RadioShack class-action settlement over card receipts
Reuters interviews Center for Class Action Fairness' founder Ted Frank on federal appeals court's decision to void RadioShack Corporation's class-action settlement. Ted Frank,…
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
McClellan: Divvying Up $2.7 Million in Leftovers
Bill Mclellan describes Ted Frank's arguments in the Oetting v. Green Jacobson PC case. The big question was this: Why should money belonging…
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
McClellan: Divvying up $2.7 million in leftovers
St. Louis Post-Dispatch discusses the class action case in which Ted Frank defends David Oetting arguing that the settlement money should be returned to the stockholders.
Blog
Redman v. RadioShack, Inc. / oral argument today
As we discussed earlier, class counsel agreed to a settlement over RadioShack credit-card receipt legality that would have paid themselves $1 million, but the…
Blog
Ted Frank speaking in Trenton September 16
The New Jersey Civil Justice Institute is saying really nice things about my scheduled luncheon talk September 16 in Trenton. Come say hi if…
Blog
Oetting v. Green Jacobson / Oral argument September 10 in 8th Circuit on cy pres
Bank of America settled a nationwide securities class action in the E.D. Mo. for hundreds of millions of dollars. For some reason, the district court…
Blog
Laguna v. Coverall N.A.
Coverall N.A. settled a class action over janitorial franchises by paying a $1M attorney fee and setting up…
EMarkets Daily
Tech Stocks On Buy Recom
EMarkets Daily asks Center for Class Action Fairness' Ted Frank about the Google privacy case settlement. Google Inc’s resolution of a privacy court case…
Stockwise Daily
Lawyer: Google Inc. Settlement of Privacy Lawsuit Smells of Biasness
Stockwise Daily reports on the Google Inc. privacy lawsuit settlement and includes a quote from CCAF's Ted Frank for more details. It’s highly…
Bloomberg Business
Google Accord With Harvard Tie Fails Judge’s Smell Test
Bloomberg Business reports on Center for Class Action's argument in the In re Google Referrer Header Privacy case. Davila also heard today from…
Bloomberg View
Pennies for Plaintiffs, Millions for Lawyers
Bloomberg describes how the Center for Class Action Fairness challenge lawsuits that benefit the lawyers more than the plantiff's themselves, and briefly mentions the In…
Law 360
HP Inkjet Settlement Objectors Continue Fight To DQ Cotchett
Law 360 reports on CCAF's objection to the HP Inkjet settlement which did not benefit class members. Ted Frank of the Center for…
Market Watch
The mysterious case of Hewlett-Packard’s Autonomy deal
Market Watch details the H-P settlement case as it returns to court and CCAF's motion filed to diqualify the law firm working with H-P for conflict…
Law 360
HP Says Cotchett Deal No ‘Side Agreement’ To Settlement
Law 360 reports on the Center for Class Action Fairness' objection to the HP settlement. Objectors to the settlement moved last month to…
Courthouse News Service
Objection to Google’s $8.5M Privacy Deal
Courthouse News Service reports on the Center for Class Action Fairness' objection to a judge's ruling that Google should pay $8.5 million to settle the suit, because…
Politicker NJ
Objection! Clean Diapers & Dirty Class-Action Settlements
Politicker NJ describes the work of the Center for Class Action Fairness and the president Ted Frank in an event announcement. Since its…
Daily Online Examiner
Google’s Privacy Settlement With Vanity Searchers Draws Opposition
The Daily Online Examiner reports on the Center for Class Action Fairness' objection to Google's privacy class-action lawsuit settlement. The deal, which was…
Business Insider
A Watchdog Lawyer Is Raising Questions About HP’s Plans To Sue Former Autonomy Executives
Business Insider describes Ted Frank's efforts to object to the outcome of the HP class action settlement case in which lawyers received a high compensation…
Cook County Record
Judge Gives Preliminary OK to $75.5M Proposed Settlement in TCPA Class Action; Believed to be Largest of Its Kind
The Cook County Record discusses the Capital One class action lawsuit settlement with Ted Frank. Ted Frank, president and founder of Center for…
Law 360
Objectors Seek To DQ Cotchett Firm In HP Inkjet Settlement
Law 360 reports on CCAF's objection to the HP inkjet settlement. Objectors to a proposed settlement in a lawsuit accusing Hewlett-Packard Co. of…
New York Times
N.F.L. Makes Open-Ended Commitment to Retirees in Concussion Suit
The New York Times cites Ted Frank on the NFL concussion settlement case.
Blog
Allen v. Dairy Farmers of America
What happens when class counsel wants to settle and the class representatives do not? Rule 23(a)(4) and the Constitution require adequate class representation before individual…
Blog
Letter to Chicago Lawyer Magazine
To the editor: Your June 2014 article “Cy pres success” contains a material misstatement of the…
Blog
Eubank v. Pella Corporation (7th Cir. 2014)
Judge Posner writes a very interesting Seventh Circuit opinion reversing a settlement approval on multiple grounds. A lot of friends forwarded the decision to…
Reuters
A smoking gun in debate over consumer class actions?
Reuters reports on the Center for Class Action Fairness' case Frank V. Poertner. CCAF objected to a settlement of consumer fraud over Duracell batteries which granted…
Forbes
Odds Of A Payoff In Consumer Class Action? Less Than A Straight Flush
Forbes cites Ted Frank of CCAF on recent consumer class action case. An interesting piece of data just dropped into the official record in…
Blog
Opening brief in Redman v. RadioShack
RadioShack committed the sin of printing credit-card receipts with expiration dates on them, which exposed it to possible liability of $100 a receipt ($1000 if…
MacNN News
Appeals Court Kicks Back Apple Power Adapter Class-Action Settlement
MacNN News reports on an objection filed by the Center for Class Action Fairness which brings the Apple settlement case back to court to question the…
Blog
May 8 debate in Washington DC
I’ll be debating Professor Brian Fitzpatrick in Washington, DC, the morning of Thursday, May 8. Registration and details at the e21 site.
Blog
Ninth Circuit win in Apple MagSafe case
The Apple MagSafe settlement paid the attorneys $3.1 million, but the class less than a quarter of that, yet the district court rubber-stamped settlement approval…
Forbes
Ninth Circuit Chucks Apple MagSafe Settlement, Chides Judge’s Oversight
Forbes reports on the settlement of a class action against Apple which would have paid the lawyers $3 million but less than $1 million to…
Law 360
9th Circ. Vacates Apple Adapter Settlement Over Attys’ Fees
Law 360 reports on CCAF's objection to the Apple adapter settlement that was unfair to class members. Ted Frank of The Center for…