A settlement of 55% of assessed losses is within the range of fair and reasonable outcomes where liability is finely balanced. Closing a class by registration (rather than opt-out) may be appropriate where opt-out would enable free-riding on the plaintiff's unrecovered common question costs. Unrecovered costs of common questions may be shared pro rata among the plaintiff and participating group members in proportion to their respective recoveries.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 22 later cases that cite this judgment.
1 of the 22 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.