7th Circuit remedies ‘objector blackmail’

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted September 9, 2020 11:32 AM

Providing an equitable remedy for the “recurring problem in class-action litigation known colloquially as ‘objector blackmail’” — in a case where “three objectors appealed the denial of their objections to a class-action settlement and then dismissed their appeals in exchange for side payments” totaling $130,000 — the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a ruling for the objectors and declared that, “on motion of another class member, the district court had the equitable power to remedy the problem by ordering the …

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