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 16-million-member class 83 thousand coupons with a face value of $10. The district court approved the settlement because (1) it held the $2.25 million spent to distribute those coupons was a class benefit and (2) the coupons weren't "coupons." Oral argument is scheduled this morning in the Seventh Circuit. Some time this afternoon or tomorrow, a recording of the argument will be available online.

• Opening brief
• Plaintiffs-appellees' brief
• Defendant-appellee's brief
• Reply brief

The reply brief was fun, as plaintiffs were forced to defend an indefensible argument. From pages 5-6:

1.                  Plaintiffs rely on a logical fallacy.

It is not unfair to summarize plaintiffs’ proposed syllogism as follows:

1.         There exist websites that offer coupons where each coupon provides only a partial discount. PB26.

2.         There exists legislative history that criticizes a coupon settlement where the coupons offered provided only partial discounts. PB24-25; PB28.

3.         Therefore all “coupons” provide only partial discounts.

4.         Therefore a voucher for a free product is not a “coupon.” PB29-31.

The formal fallacy in plaintiffs’ logic is even more apparent in the following analogy:

1.         There exists a dog racing track where each racing dog is a greyhound.

2.         Actor Leonard Nimoy owns a dog that is a greyhound.

3.         Therefore all dogs are greyhounds.

4.         Therefore a collie is not a dog.

Nimoy’s most famous character had a catchphrase for this.[5]

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[5] Cf. Leonard Nimoy, Highly Illogical on Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy (Dot Records 1968). Or, as Woody Allen once said, “All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore all men are Socrates.” Love and Death (United Artists 1975).