Class Actions: Lawyers Get Thousands, Plaintiffs Get Pennies and Pastries
Twitter, Yelp, Instagram, Foursquare and a few other apps are agreeing to a $5.3 million settlement to an invasion-of-privacy class action in which the companies’ apps were accused of accessing the address books of iOS users without their knowledge or consent, reports Arstechnica.com.
Fees for the lawyers who brought the suit on behalf of an estimated 7 million members of the class will be about $1.59 million. Individual class members are in for a payday of about 53 cents each.
Class members in a suit against Dunkin’ Donuts won’t even get money. They’re in for a payoff of free buttered treats, according to the Associated Press. Their lawyers, however, will collect $90,000 in fees in the settlement.
Thomas Shapiro, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said it wasn’t a profitable case for his firm.
Read the stories in Arstechnica and the AP.