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A federal judge recently gave a $425 million Equifax class action settlement final approval despite objections from consumer advocacy groups.
U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. determined that the landmark settlement is fair and has earned final approval in an oral ruling on Dec. 19. A written ruling will reportedly follow in the coming weeks.
Final approval was granted despite nearly 400 objections lodged against the settlement.
“Judge Thrash rejected the objections to the settlement — including specifically those from serial objectors — finding that the settlement is an exceptional result for the class, particularly in light of the risk, and that the relief is at the ‘high range’ of what likely could have been recovered at trial,” plaintiffs’ counsel told Law360.
Plaintiffs’ counsel notes that the settlement is historical in its size and has support from nearly every state attorney general and several federal regulators such as the Federal Trade Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Although many consumers and officials support the settlement, one of the settlement’s most vocal objectors reportedly remains opposed to the deal. Hamilton Law Institute’s Center for Class Action Fairness has routinely opposed the settlement, finding the deal to be unfair, unreasonable, and inadequate. Ted Frank, the director of litigation at the Institution, took to Twitter following the final approval and vowed to appeal the decision.
“The settlement on its face violates [U.S. Supreme Court] precedent on Rule 23(a)(4), and @HamLincLaw looks forward to an appeal,” Frank wrote on his Twitter account.
Issues with the Equifax class action settlement reportedly include nearly $80 million in attorneys’ fees, an award that was granted by Judge Thrash based on the “exceptional” outcome of the case. However, objectors also take issue with the case’s outcomes – especially considering the decreased cash payments from the settlement.
Originally, the settlement set aside $31 million to fund cash payments to consumers. These payments were initially estimated to be as high as $125 per claimant.
Due to the estimated 147 million consumers affected by the breach and the high level of media attention, more claims for cash payment were made than were anticipated. As a result, the Federal Trade Commission announced that cash payments would not be as high as estimated.
Objectors to the settlement argued that this was unfair and that the settlement “throttled” monetary claims by only putting aside a small amount of the fund for cash payments.
The rest of the settlement fund, apart from the amount directed to costs and fees, reportedly provides free credit monitoring and expense reimbursement for damages “fairly traceable” to the data breach.
Consumers who are eligible for the Equifax data breach class action settlement have until Jan. 22, 2020 to file an initial claim with the fund. Extended claims for the settlement will be accepted through Jan. 22, 2024.
Are you eligible for the recently approved Equifax settlement? Let us know in the comment section below.
The consumers in the multidistrict litigation and settlement are represented by co-lead counsel Amy Keller of DiCello Levitt Gutzler LLC, Kenneth Canfield of Doffermyre Shields Canfield & Knowles LLC and Norman Siegel of Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP. Barnes Law Group LLC and Evangelista Worley LLC serve as co-liaison counsel. Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Girard Gibbs LLP, Hausfeld LLP, Tadler Law LLP, Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group, Murphy Falcon & Murphy and The Doss Firm LLC are on the plaintiffs’ steering committee. Griffin & Strong PC serves as state court coordinating counsel.
The Equifax Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Equifax Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, Case No. 1:17-md-02800, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
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126 thoughts onChallenged Equifax Data Breach Settlement Gets Final Approval
Add me. I have been turned down because problems on my report
Add me please
Add me
ADD ME PLZ
PLEASE add me! I was told it was already settled! I didn’t receive anything! I don’t know why? Free credit monitoring? I already have that. I have all 3. Can anyone comment on this?
Please sign me up, I get some kind of credit monitoring
Please count me in.
I was initially notified of a monetary reward for this data breach, then received notice that I would get credit monitoring for a year (Whoopie) already get that free thru other channels, Thank you very much.
Equifax and other Companies should be held responsible for these Breaches, they don’t take our private information seriously enough. If they are not going to pay for better security then they should be expected to pay the affected consumers.
I got a email stating that my credit report from Equifax was compromised.I Even had a freeze on my account but somehow it was still breached ,there are addresses on my Equifax account that I have never even lived at the only places I’ve lived is in Florida and Ohio I have never lived anywhere else in the world besides them to places and they have places like Wisconsin and stuff on my report I’ve also noticed on the web I have found a lot of things that I did not let out there that’s been on there so I have been breached like they said I don’t understand it I had a freeze on it how can this have happened this is ridiculous.
You are so right. Same things have happened to me. How can they offer credit monitoring for your account that didn’t work in the first place. They should be responsible for paying consumers more than what they are offering. And attorneys take up majority of the amouns of these settlements, which leave not much for the people that suffered because of this. That shouldn’t be!
I had many breaches and the original claim I filed was not addressed.
My credit went down to inquiries from unknown sources and charges. The bank refunded most of these.
Originally I was set for cash refund as I had credit monitoring and canceled it.
My address has changed but I hope we will get notified this time
Thus far since the Equifax breach my info has been found in over 30 sites, at least half on the dark web.
But of course Eqifax is not to blame. Funny none of that ever happened until their breach. My CC accounts were trashed, maxed out, closed, my credit ruined and now they want to whine.
Im not rich. They are, at my expense.
I asked about the credit monitoring when it was supposedly first available, was told I was not eligible.
Don’t really know what to do now.
I have had multiple security breaches and it got to the point where I had to put a freeze on my credit reports. Now it has affected my credit so bad that I can’t even apply for a mortgage. Guess I will be renting for the rest of my life.