"The Cy Pres Racket"

Karen Lee Torre, in the Connecticut Law Tribune, hates cy pres even more than I do, so we'll be seeing her Sep. 28 op-ed in future briefs. See also Peggy Little at Point of Law.

In the Recorder

The Recorder has a brief piece on CCAF on their blog.

Costco Fuel Settlement

Costco, along with other fuel retailers, has been sued over the way it measures gallons of fuel in some states. The putative class plaintiffs have settled the case--for zero dollars for the class, and ten million dollars for the attorneys. You are a member of the Settlement Class and are affected by the proposed settlement if you purchased gasoline from Costco at a temperature above 60 degrees, between January 1, 2001, and April 22, 2009, and reside in the following states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, the District of Columbia, or Guam. CCAF will be representing two class members who find the settlement objectionable.

(Updated to reflect status of case.)

CD California ruling approving Bluetooth settlement

The court's opinion is not quite a rubber-stamp of the defendants' proposed order and opinion, but it's pretty close. The court distinguishes precedent by claiming the cases we cited did not have severable attorneys' fees, but that (1) is a distinction without an economic difference and (2) is not universally true. The attorneys' fees were severable in Crawford v. Equifax, for example, as that settlement obliged only the payment of "reasonable" fees to be set by the court.

The critical issue of the fees to the attorneys has not yet been decided.

In Forbes magazine

The Sep. 21 issue of Forbes magazine, now on newsstands, has a lengthy profile by Dan Fisher of my founding of the Center for Class Action Fairness, complete with a photo of my ugly mug gracing the story.

Ameritrade Stock Spam Settlement briefing responses

Plaintiffs and defendants each filed responses yesterday in the Ameritrade suit. I have to say that I didn't expect the claim that the coupon for free software is not a "coupon."

The return of Grand Theft Auto: Class Action

With a million dollars of attorneys' fees at stake, the trial lawyers in the infamous Grand Theft Auto case appealed the lower court decertification ruling to the Second Circuit.

In response, I filed this brief yesterday.