The briefing by the settling parties in support of final approval seemed exceptionally poor, though I admittedly have never been in a position where I've tried to defend an indefensible settlement. We see another quack economic expert report inventing tens of millions of dollars of "benefit" from a worthless settlement. We filed our opposition today, with references to Seinfeld, Bart Simpson, The Great Gatsby, and the legal tradition of table-pounding—as well as an article written by lead class counsel for the trial-lawyers' lobby where he admits to the worthlessness of the settlement.
The case is In re HP Inkjet Printer Litigation, No. 05-3580 (N.D. Cal.), and the fairness hearing will be before Judge Jeremy Fogel on January 28 in San Jose.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Victory: court rejects Classmates.com settlement
We'd like to think our objection had at least a little to do with the end result.
This decision is not a big surprise after the court was severely critical of the settlement during the December 16 fairness hearing. We won't know for a while why the court rejected the settlement, but Judge Richard Jones today issued an order stating that he did so, that the parties should return to litigation, and that a formal opinion would be forthcoming. (The parties might reasonably murmur that they're hard pressed to have productive settlement negotiations until they know where they fell short in the court's eyes.)
This decision is not a big surprise after the court was severely critical of the settlement during the December 16 fairness hearing. We won't know for a while why the court rejected the settlement, but Judge Richard Jones today issued an order stating that he did so, that the parties should return to litigation, and that a formal opinion would be forthcoming. (The parties might reasonably murmur that they're hard pressed to have productive settlement negotiations until they know where they fell short in the court's eyes.)
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Bachman v. A.G. Edwards coupon class action settlement appeal
Our unsuccessful objection to the Bachman v. A.G. Edwards settlement, which consisted almost entirely of time-restricted non-transferable $8.22 coupons, received press coverage at the time. The question of whether to value a coupon at full face value or at the actual (or reasonably anticipated) redemption rate is a question of first impression in Missouri state courts; our appellate brief was filed Monday.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Oral argument scheduled in the Bluetooth case
The Ninth Circuit has scheduled oral argument in the Bluetooth case for Monday, February 7, 9 a.m., in the federal courthouse in Pasadena. (Five other cases are on the calendar, so I probably won't get my fifteen minutes until after 10 a.m.) I'm undefeated (well, ok, 1-0) in that courthouse.
The first time I ever visited the Pasadena courthouse was in the fall of 1992, when a memorable young law clerk in Alex Kozinski's chambers named Eugene Volokh quizzed me about the issue of toughening evidentiary standards for expert witnesses in what I think was the first law-clerk interview of the season for 1994-95. (That was the first attempt of the judiciary and the legal academy to create a cartel for the hiring of law clerks, and I unwittingly caused it to break down when I sent my resume out without consulting with the law school, and Judge Kozinski started calling people in for interviews, causing a chain reaction that unraveled everyone's plans.) Eugene, of course, went on to bigger and better things.
If you're in the DC area, and you're interested in putting in a few hours reading briefs and throwing questions at me on a moot court later this month, please drop me an email. (Friends from Kirkland & Ellis: sorry, you're adverse to me in this case, so you're not invited.)
The first time I ever visited the Pasadena courthouse was in the fall of 1992, when a memorable young law clerk in Alex Kozinski's chambers named Eugene Volokh quizzed me about the issue of toughening evidentiary standards for expert witnesses in what I think was the first law-clerk interview of the season for 1994-95. (That was the first attempt of the judiciary and the legal academy to create a cartel for the hiring of law clerks, and I unwittingly caused it to break down when I sent my resume out without consulting with the law school, and Judge Kozinski started calling people in for interviews, causing a chain reaction that unraveled everyone's plans.) Eugene, of course, went on to bigger and better things.
If you're in the DC area, and you're interested in putting in a few hours reading briefs and throwing questions at me on a moot court later this month, please drop me an email. (Friends from Kirkland & Ellis: sorry, you're adverse to me in this case, so you're not invited.)
Thursday, December 30, 2010
In re HP Inkjet Printer Litigation class action settlement objection
If I were to buy a three-pack of color ink for my inkjet printer today, it would cost me $42.99 at HP.com and $36.99 at Amazon.com. That's not a big deal—unless HP is trying to settle a class action by giving class members $2 coupons that can only be used at HP.com (and can't be transferred or stacked, and expire in six months). And even if the coupon was larger (some class members get $7 coupons) HP makes much more money selling ink at HP.com than at Amazon.com, all else being equal: this is a marketing program for them. And the attorneys are claiming that they're entitled to $2.9 million for such a lame settlement because the coupons are "worth" $5 million. And even if one attributed full face value to the coupons (which the parties try mightily hard to not call coupons), I strongly suspect far less than $5 million of coupons will be claimed or redeemed.
The Center filed an objection today in the Northern District of California. Kabateck Brown Kellner, who we've seen before in the $0 AOL settlement and the $117k Classmates.com settlement, are among the lead attorneys in this ripoff as well.
Objections are due January 3. If you're a class member (and most people who purchased HP inkjet printers in the last nine years are, and there are tens of millions of them out there), you can file a claim or object at the settlement website; this settlement nicely permits emails if you prefer objecting that way.
The Center filed an objection today in the Northern District of California. Kabateck Brown Kellner, who we've seen before in the $0 AOL settlement and the $117k Classmates.com settlement, are among the lead attorneys in this ripoff as well.
Objections are due January 3. If you're a class member (and most people who purchased HP inkjet printers in the last nine years are, and there are tens of millions of them out there), you can file a claim or object at the settlement website; this settlement nicely permits emails if you prefer objecting that way.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Objection in Ercoline v. Unilever (Breyers Smooth & Dreamy) class action
We had to mail it to the court rather than electronically file it so it may not immediately show up in the docket, but today the District of New Jersey will receive my objection to the $0 settlement in Ercoline v. Unilever, No. 10-cv-1747. Earlier.
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