Cozy Class-Action Deals Nixed by Judges Eyeing Lawyer `Rackets’

March 22, 2019, 7:49 PM UTCUpdated: March 25, 2019, 8:37 PM UTC

Federal judges in California are cracking down on warped incentives in class-action lawsuits, exerting tighter oversight of settlements that provide hefty fees for plaintiff lawyers but no meaningful benefit for those harmed by corporate misdeeds.

A recent example was the proposed $50 million settlement over a customer-data breach at Yahoo! Inc. U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh blocked it, saying a request by plaintiffs’ lawyers for an additional $37.5 million in compensation for their work on the case was excessive. She also criticized Yahoo for a lack of transparency about how many people were affected and for trying to use ...

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