(09-28-2013 10:23 AM)bitcruncher Wrote:  

(09-28-2013 09:11 AM)TerryD Wrote:  The players get about $322 each. The plaintiff lawyers in the class action probably get around $9 million. That is how class action lawsuit settlements usually end up. Ah, America!

The initial filer gets a percentage of everybody's cut. So the one who filed the suit will make out pretty well, while the rest get a pittance...

Sometimes, sometimes not. That is at the discretion of the court, and public perceptions often play a role.

E.g., in the recent NFL class action lawsuit about NFL Film's use of player's likenesses, the lead plaintiffs initially resisted the proposed settlement because they wanted "incentive money" as the initial filers. But then the Federal judge criticized them thusly:

" (Judge) Magnuson criticized those players who rejected the settlement in an April 5 order. "It is the height of disingenuousness for these same plaintiffs to now complain, like children denied dessert, that the settlement does not benefit enough the individuals who brought the lawsuit," he wrote."

This prompted the media and some other players to grumble that the original filers were being greedy, and so these initial plaintiffs hastily announced that they were opposing the settlement not because they wanted more than other players, but because they felt it did not benefit all players enough. They further denied that they had sought extra money from the court as the initial filers.

Usually, lead plaintiffs get more if they really stuck their necks out in some way, such as risking their jobs or pursuing a case that initially appeared unlikely to succeed but that through dogged determination and much personal time and expense they developed into something big. Otherwise, they typically get no more than the rest of the class.