The UCL Practitioner

U.S. Supreme Court grants cert. in cy pres case: Frank v. Gaos

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the objectors' cert. petition in Frank v. Gaos, No. 17-961. The underlying Ninth Circuit opinion is In re Google Referrer Header Privacy Litigation, 869 F.3d 767 (2017), which is discussed in this blog post. 

In Google Referrer, Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's order approving a class action settlement in which all monetary proceeds were distributed to cy pres recipients, reasoning that distributions to individual class members were not economically feasible.  869 F.3d at 741-42.

The cert. petition contended that the case presented an opportunity for the Court to reach the "fundamental concerns surrounding the use of such remedies in class action litigation" identified by Chief Justice Roberts in his 2013 "statement respecting the denial of certiorari" in  Marek v. Lane, no. 13-136.  (See these blog posts.)  It looks like at least four justices agreed.

The SCOTUSblog case page has links to all the briefs filed to date.  The U.S. Supreme Court's docket page has additional links. 

"Class action objectors defend 9th Circuit's infamous Hyundai ruling"

This article includes links to some of the briefs filed in connection with the rehearing petitions in the Hyundai case (discussed here).

According to the article, both the plaintiffs and the defendants have petitioned for rehearing, leaving the objectors to attempt to defend the decision. See In re Hyundai and Kia Fuel Economy Litigation, ___ F.3d ___ (9th Cir. Jan. 23, 2018).