"Class Action Settlement Tossed Out"

Yesterday's Daily Journal had an article (subscription) on the Court of Appeal's decision last Friday to publish its opinion in Kullar v. Foot Locker Retail, Inc., ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (Oct. 14, 2008; pub. ord. Nov. 7, 2008).   In Kullar, the Court of Appeal reversed an order granting final approval of a class action settlement, holding that the record did not reflect whether the trial court considered evidence of the potential value of the claims being compromised. 

Here is my blog post on Kullar, and here is an excerpt from the Daily Journal piece, which reports that a depublication request is anticipated:

Class counsel Scott E. Cole of Scott Cole & Associates in Oakland said the next version of the settlement will contain more information. He also said he is seeking depublication of the opinion because it does not create or modify law.

"Notoriety in my cases is something that attorneys generally want, but I'm a little surprised that the court thought this was worthy of going into the books ... just because it's such a fact-intensive situation that we had," Cole said.

....

Mediator Mariam Zadeh of First Mediation Corp. in Encino said the case could change the way parties treat class action mediations, which sometimes happen early in the cases before discovery has been conducted on all of the claims.

"What you might end up seeing is parties coming to mediation in class action suits a little bit further down the discovery road," she said.