Douglas v. The Western Union Company

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Appellate Jurisdiction
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 19-1868
Decision Date: 
April 13, 2020
Federal District: 
N.D. Ill., E. Div.
Holding: 
Appeal dismissed

Court of Appeals dismissed objector's appeal of Dict. Ct.'s denial of her claim for attorney's fees and incentive award for raising objection to proposed class action in Telephone Consumer Protection Act claim. Dist. Ct. found that: (1) objector was not class member; and (2) because non-class members cannot be compensated in class action, plaintiff had no standing to object or receive fees for incentive award. Only parties to lawsuit and those that properly become parties may appeal adverse judgment, and Ct. of Appeals found that because objector did not challenge Dist. Ct.'s finding that she was not class member, she was not party in lawsuit, and thus lacked standing to appeal, where she did not otherwise ask to intervene for purposes of appealing any unwelcome rulings.