Helpful Class Settlement Guidance from Two Recent Circuit Opinions
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Two recent opinions issued by panels for the Fourth and Eleventh Circuits approved class settlements and provide helpful guidance on crafting class settlement agreements likely to withstand objection. In Greco v. Ginn Dev. Co., LLC, an Eleventh Circuit panel considered the objections of lone objector Christopher Greco to class settlement with all purchasers of real estate in one of the defendants’ developments. 14-11443, 2015 WL 7755673 (11th Cir. 2015).
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Likewise, Berry v. Schulman, a Fourth Circuit decision approving a class settlement over objection, provides valuable insight on the analysis applicable to class settlements primarily providing injunctive relief. 807 F.3d 600 (4th Cir. 2015). The plaintiffs alleged that defendants failed to provide Fair Credit Reporting Act protections in connection with sale of personal data reports to debt collectors. Following lengthy and laborious settlement negotiations, the district court certified a settlement class under rule 23(b)(2) and approved a settlement requiring extensive revamping of the defendants’ product offerings that would make defendant “the industry leader among data aggregation companies in the protection of customer information provided to debt collectors.” Id. at 5–6. A group of objectors challenged the settlement as “unfair and inadequate because it releases class members’ statutory damages claims without providing for any monetary relief in exchange.” Id. at 30.
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