Verizon ‘Stealth Fee’ Settlement Opt-Outs Order Vacated in NJ

A $100 million Verizon Wireless stealth fees class action settlement was bolstered Tuesday with a New Jersey appeals court opinion tossing a ruling in favor of an attorney recruiting settlement opt-outs.

The terms of a universal deal that prohibited “mass” opt-outs from the settlement may have barred a Missouri lawyer from using an online form to ink retainer deals that constituted exits from the broader deal, the New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division ruled. The trial court failed to explain itself.

“Although the trial court stated Murphy’s Website provided a ‘methodology...approved by the courts,’ the court didn’t identify ‘the ...