Law Commons^™

Under Cloak Of Settlement, Susan P. Koniak

Faculty Scholarship

In this Article, we discuss examples of class action settlements in which the conduct allegedly engaged in by class counsel-and in some instances by the defendants and their lawyers--could constitute a civil wrong or a criminal act under state or federal law, but a court nevertheless blessed the conduct by approving the settlement. We argue that the findings made by federal and state courts in blessing these settlements, namely, findings on the adequacy of class counsel, the lack of collusion between class counsel and the defendants, and the fairness of the settlement terms, should not immunize the conduct of the …