Ted Frank

October 21, 2013|Center for Class Action Fairness, Class Action, Marek v. Lane, Martin v. Blessing, Ted Frank

Class Action Twofer

That doesn’t happen every day: a non-profit shop, Ted Frank’s excellent Center for Class Action Fairness, has two cert petitions pending in the Supreme Court, and both are on this week’s re-list watch. Marek v. Lane presents the question of whether a class action settlement that provides cy prez relief that’s of absolutely no use to the class—and no other relief to that class—is nonetheless fair, adequate, and reasonable. Answer, no. (I’ve discussed the case in an earlier post.) Here’s the QP in Martin v. Blessing: Whether an objecting class member – whose antitrust claims have been waived by a settlement negotiated by…

August 30, 2013|Class Action, education policy, Eric Hanushek, John Marshall, States' Rights, Ted Frank, Too Big To Fail

Friday Roundup, August 30th

by Richard M. Reinsch II|

Ted Frank, founder of the Center for Class Action Fairness, comes to Liberty Law Talk to discuss class action abuse and the need for reform of much of the current system. The Fallacies of States' Rights or the problems created by John Marshall's nationalism? Adam Tate considers both notions in this week's review essay, "The Fallacies of Marshallian Nationalism." Getting education right in America: Russ Roberts talks with Eric Hanushek of Stanford on the costs of having a mediocre education system. JP Morgan's 4 parts: investment banking, traditional banking, asset management, and private equity are worth more separately than their present combination: So…

August 26, 2013|CCAF, Center for Class Action Fairness, Facebook, Ted Frank

Facebook’s Class Act

by Michael S. Greve|

My buddy Ted Frank founded and runs the Center for Class Action Fairness. (Disclosure: I am a member of CCAF’s Board of Directors.) CCAF’s mission is to blow up collusive class actions and settlements—you know, actions where the class members get worthless coupons or nothing at all, while the lawyers walk away with millions in fees. When CCAF learns of impending agreements of this, sort it objects on behalf of class members. There’s a cottage industry of professional objectors, but they’re interested in money and so are usually cut into the deal. CCAF is a non-profit firm, and Ted can’t be bought off: he insists on settlements that actually benefit the class, and on lawyers’ fees that bear some rational relation to those benefits.

CCAF has racked up an impressive record of accomplishments (some listed on the website), and the trial lawyers don’t like Ted. Many corporations don’t like him, either. (Whaddaya mean, we’re supposed to fight nuisance suits and/or compensate actual victims, as opposed to conniving with their class counsel?) Among those companies is Facebook.

September 28, 2012|David Skeel, Hadley Arkes, Richard Fisher, Richard Hynes, Richard Reinsch, Ryszard Legutko, Ted Frank, When States Go Broke

Friday Roundup, September 28th

by Richard M. Reinsch II|

Garett Jones at Econ Log matches unemployment benefits with a timeless beer song: 99 weeks of unemployment benefits on the wall, you take one down, spread it around, and it raises unemployment by how much? Ted Frank directs our attention to the lengths the Justice Department will go to in order to defend the use of disparate impact theory as a tool in civil-rights litigation. When States Go Broke: a new faculty book podcast by the Federalist Society featuring David Skeel and Richard Hynes. See also the book of the same title edited by Skeel and Peter Conti-Brown. It's good to live in…

May 30, 2012|Center for Class Action Fairness, Ted Frank

Class Act

by Michael S. Greve|

My buddy (and former AEI colleague) Ted Frank, who blogs at Point of Law, runs the Center for Class Action Fairness. CCAF’s sole and wholly salutary purpose is to blow up collusive, plutocrats-of-the-world-unite-and-screw-the consumers settlements between class action lawyers and corporate defendants who, if it weren’t for the trial bar, would deserve everything the trial lawyers dish out to them (and then some). (Disclosure: I serve on CCAF’s Board.) The world hates Ted but once in a while, he finds an impartial forum, as here. To summarize one of the funniest appellate arguments I’ve yet heard: Mr. Frank: Your Honors (Judges Bauer,…

A Mirror of the 20th-Century Congress

by Joseph Postell

Wright undermined the very basis of his local popularity—the decentralized nature of the House—by supporting reforms that gave power to the party leaders.

The Graces of Flannery O'Connor

by Henry T. Edmondson III

O'Connor's correspondence is a goldmine of piercing insight and startling reflections on everything from literature to philosophy to raising peacocks.

About