Vanderbilt class-action expert can comment on Frank v. Gaos
Outcome could impact how class actions are settled
Vanderbilt Law School professor Brian Fitzpatrick is a leading scholar in class actions is available to discuss Frank v. Gaos, which the Supreme Court will hear in oral arguments Weds. Oct. 31. Fitzpatrick is the author of “The Conservative Case for Class Actions,” which will be published next year.
At issue is whether and when a court may approve a class action settlement that send all or part of the settlement to charity rather than to class members—known as “cy pres” payments. The idea is that, if, for some reason, it is not practical to send the money to class members—usually because the money is not sufficient to send more than a few cents or dollars to each class member—the next best thing is to send it to a charity that can serve class members indirectly. The petitioner, Theodore Frank, argues that cy pres is not a fair way to resolve a class action, and that settlement money should always be distributed to class members, no matter how little the amount.
Fitzpatrick thinks this outcome is unlikely.
“Cy pres has been around for decades and is a very common provision in class action settlements. It is true that sometimes courts run into trouble when they pick the charity that receives the money because the judge or one of the lawyers may have a connection to the charity and that doesn’t look good. But I doubt the Supreme Court will say cy pres can never be considered part of a fair settlement,” Fitzpatrick said. “There is, however, a decent chance the Court could say we should at least try to give the class money before we use cy pres. We will know more after the oral argument on October 31.”
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