Dist. Ct. erred in approving proposed settlement of class action concerning defendant’s marketing of its 12-inch footlong sandwich, where most, but not all of defendant's bread rolls were at least 12 inches long. Proposed settlement gave class members no monetary damages, while giving class counsel up to $525,000 in fees, and settlement of injunctive portion of claim acknowledged that even with certain production measures in place, some sandwich rolls would inevitably fall short of 12 inches due to natural variability in baking process. Also, record showed that size of roll did not affect quantity of food each customer received both before and after filing of instant lawsuit. As such, Dist. Ct. should not have approved proposed settlement where class members received zero monetary benefits while class counsel received fees, and class action itself should have been dismissed, where it sought only worthless benefits for class members.
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Class Action