Second Circuit Rejects Massive Class Action Settlement and Affirms Importance of Adequate Representation and Due Process Rights for Absent Class Members -
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently considered whether the largest negotiated cash settlement in a class action antitrust case satisfied the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and constitutional due process concerns and determined, in a rare decision, that the answer was “no.” In a nod to the rights of absent class members, the Court unanimously overturned a multi-billion dollar settlement relating to credit card swipe fees, reopening litigation in a case that had been pending for nearly a decade. See In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation (“Interchange Fee Antitrust Litig.”), Case No. 12-4671, 827 F.3d 223 (2d Cir. June 30, 2016). The Court’s decision, in which Quinn Emanuel represented a merchant who objected to the settlement, affirms long- standing principles of due process and the principle that global peace in complex commercial litigation cannot come at the expense of procedural and substantive fairness to absent class members.
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