Professional Objectors Try to Hijack Settlements, Class Action Says

A law firm has filed a class action lawsuit against a number of other law firms, which it says serve as “professional objectors” to oppose class action settlements.

The law firm Edelson PC has filed the professional objector class action lawsuit against the following law firms and defendants: The Bandas Law Firm PC, Christopher Bandas, Law Offices of Darrell Palmer PC d/b/a Darrell Palmer Law Office, Joseph Darrell Palmer, Noonan Perillo & Thut Ltd, C. Jeffery Thut, and Gary Stewart.

“Defendants are among the most notorious and prolific ‘professional objectors’ in the United States,” the class action lawsuit states. “Together, Defendants plan and coordinate actions to extort profit from legitimate and court-approved class action settlements, and specifically from counsel representing the class such as Plaintiff and the Class here.”

“To further this plan, Defendants, who are serial racketeers, formed an association and enterprise of individuals and entities with the explicit purpose of extorting money through class action objections with no basis in the law,” the professional objector class action lawsuit continues.

Edelson PC alleges that the defendants often “file last-minute frivolous objections to class action settlements.”

According to the professional objector class action lawsuit, these objections are frequently overruled “due to their frivolity,” but then the defendants threaten to appeal the overruling unless the counsel representing the settlement Class “pays them to go away.”

“Defendants do all of this with no intention of improving the terms of the class action settlement for the betterment of the class members; their only interest is exerting pressure so they can extort a payment for themselves for minimal work,” the professional objector class action lawsuit alleges.

Edelson PC argues that the defendants know that an appeal can delay the litigation for years, and so they offer to forego the appeal if they are paid a price, which the professional objector class action lawsuit says can be as high as $500,000 in attorneys’ fees.

By filing the professional objector class action lawsuit, Edelson PC seeks to represent any entity that agreed to pay fees to any of the defendants related to an objection to a class action settlement, and in which no changes or modifications were made to the settlement, no benefit was provided to Class Members, and no court approved the payment.

Edelson PC accuses the defendants of violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), the Hobbs Act, and the Illinois Attorney Act. The law firm also asserts that the defendants’ conduct constitutes wire fraud.

The professional objectors class action lawsuit seeks injunctive relief prohibiting the defendants from filing objections to class action lawsuits and settlements without prior screening and approval by a court.

In addition, Edelson PC is seeking judgment against the defendants for monetary, actual, consequential and compensatory damages.

The class action lawsuit was filed by Jay Edelson, Benjamin Richman, Rafey S. Balabanian and Eve-Lynn Rapp of Edelson PC.

The Professional Objector Class Action Lawsuit is Edelson PC v. The Bandas Law Firm PC, et al., Case No. 1:16-cv-11057, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.