Ted Frank, '94: Competitive Enterprise Institute Attorney Will Be Arguing for Himself in US Supreme Court Case about the Practice of Cy Pres
Money For Nothing: SCOTUS Could Stop Class Action Funds From Being Steered To Non-Parties
The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments this morning in a case that could end cy pres, the practice of steering money in class action settlements to organizations with absolutely no connection to the underlying lawsuit.
Proponents say cy pres – it translates roughly into “as good as” – has noble roots in ancient Roman law and accomplishes the goal of compensating class members when it’s impractical to actually send them a check. Opponents say cy pres has much more recent and intellectually dishonest roots and has evolved into a sneaky way to pay plaintiff lawyers more than they’re due while rewarding charities they may have a personal connection with.
Competitive Enterprise Institute attorney Ted Frank will be arguing for himself in Frank v. Gaos as a member of a class of Google customers who received nothing from an $8.5 million settlement of privacy litigation that paid plaintiff lawyers $2.2 million in fees.
Read more at Forbes