Heartland Security Breach Class Action: Victims $1925, Lawyers $600,000 163
Fluffeh writes "Back in 2007, Heartland had a security breach that resulted in a 130 million credit card details being lifted. A class action suit followed and many thought it would send a direct message to business to ensure proper security measures protecting their clients and customers. With the Heartland case now over and settlements paid out and divided up, the final breakdown is as follows: Class members: $1925 (11 cases out of 290 filed were 'valid'). Lawyers for the plaintiff class action: $606,192. Non-Profits: around $1,000,000 (The Court ruled a minimum of $1 million in payouts). Heartland also paid its own lawyers around $2 million. Eric Goldman (Law Professor) has additional commentary on his Law Blog: 'The opinion indicates Heartland spent $1.5M to advertise the settlement. Thus, it appears they spent over $130,000 to generate each legitimate claim. Surprisingly, the court blithely treats the $1.5M expenditure as a cost of doing business, but I can't wrap my head around it. What an obscene waste of money! Add in the $270k spent on claims administration, and it appears that the parties spent $160k per legitimate claimant. The court isn't bothered by the $270k expenses either, even though that cost about $1k per tendered claim (remember, there were 290 total claims).'"
that's the free market for you libertarians (Score:1, Interesting)
Or are you going to whine about the lack of a free market legal system?
This woman took Honda to small claims court. (Score:5, Interesting)
This lady opted out of a class action and took Honda to small claims court and won.
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2012/02/03/234115.htm [insurancejournal.com]
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:This is _all_ class action lawsuits! (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:the court should not care about costs... (Score:4, Interesting)
If the point of the trial is to determine guilt and punishment, that should be a job for criminal court. Civil courts exist to compensate those harmed, not just their lawyers.
I'd like to see reform of the system to dictate a maximum payout to plaintiff's lawyers of less than 25% of the amount awarded to plaintiffs.
Lincoln's advice to lawyers (Score:5, Interesting)
"Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser -- in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough."
--Abraham Lincoln