RED FLAGS FOR CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENTS*

*FROM Howard M. Erichson, "Aggregation as Disempowerment,"

forthcoming, 92 Notre Dame L. Rev., as of Sunday, April 24, 2016.

 

A.  Terms that Make an Exaggerated Appearance of Value.

        1.    Spurious Injunctive Relief.

        2.    Coupons.

        3.    Cy Pres.

        4.    Claims Procedures (particularly when direct payment, in any case preferred, is feasible).

        5.    Reversion. 

B.  Terms that Expand Class Counsel's Franchise and Defendant's Protection.

        6.    Excessively Broad Release.

        7.    Expanded Class Definition.Terms that Discourage Objections.

C.    Terms that Discourage Objections.

        8.    Class Representative Bonus.

        9.    Fee Fund.

            a.  I.e., Segregated Revertible Fee Funds.

        10.    Clear Sailing Agreements.

©2016 by Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.  No claim to original works of Prof. Howard M. Erichson or Notre Dame Law Review.

Permission is hereby freely given to readers of Insurance Claims and Bad Faith Law Blog to download, print, and above all, use this checklist of Red Flags for Class Action Settlements.  This permission extends to all of this Blog's readers, especially but not only judges and their law clerks, lawyers, scholars, and investigative reporters.

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