On August 17, 2015, following objections from several class members, counsel representing a class of customers in a suit alleging Chase Bank USA illegally called customer’s cellphones without their consent cut their request for fees in a proposed $34 million settlement by $1.5 million.
The attorneys said the $9.5 million, down from the original request of $11 million, would be about one third of the total class fund. Objector Sam P. Cannata’s claimed in February that the Seventh Circuit has held that counsel in similar class action settlements should receive 10 to 12 percent of the settlement.
Each class member set to receive between $20 and $40 in the settlement fund to cover the plaintiffs’ claims that Chase and JP Morgan Chase Bank NA contacted their cellphones without consent.
Adjudicating class certification in TCPA actions on the merits has become protracted and expensive, giving both sides an incentive to settle before a decision on certification. However, increased scrutiny on the structure of the settlement may decrease the incentive to settle—forcing both sides to go the mat on class certification.
The case is Gehrich v. Chase Bank USA NA, case number 1:12-cv-05510, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.