9th Circ. Ruling Signals Scrutiny Of Class Settlement Fees

Partner Jason Russell and associates Hillary Hamilton and Adam Lloyd review the Ninth Circuit's recent decision in Briseño v. Henderson, in which the panel held that under the revised Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(e)(2), federal courts must heavily scrutinize any settlement made on behalf of a class to ensure that counsel for the defendant and the class have not colluded on an unfair distribution of settlement funds between recovery for the class and the fees for its attorneys.