Judge Thomas Thrash and Ted Frank.

The presiding judge who approved Equifax's data breach settlement has ordered six objectors to post bond while they pursue appeals of the $1.4 billion deal.

U.S. District Chief Judge Thomas Thrash of the Northern District of Georgia on Monday ordered each of six individuals he called "serial objectors" to individually post a $2,000 bond within the next 14 days.

The judge said he has already addressed the substance of each objection and found, "They each lacked merit, and in some instances, were made in bad faith." Thrash also defended the settlement agreement as the largest data breach settlement in history, saying it provides class members "an unprecedented package of benefits."

Thrash said the objectors' appeals could delay distribution of settlement benefits by a year. The class includes millions of consumers whose personal and financial data were compromised in a 2017 data breach at Atlanta-based Equifax.

Thrash's bond order names Ted Frank, the litigation director at the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute in Washington, D.C.; attorney Mikell West, of Corpus Christi; and Ohio lawyer George Cochran. Thrash also required bonds from Frank co-objector David Watkins and pro se litigators Christopher Andrews and Shiyang Huang.

Thrash said in his order that the objectors he cited "have unsuccessfully asserted many of the same or similar objections in other class action settlements."

He also held that their objections "are not in the best interests of the class, that there is no substantial likelihood their objections will be successful on appeal, and that the class would be best served by final resolution of their objections as soon as practicable so that class members can begin to benefit from the settlement."

West is represented by Atlanta attorney Jerry Froelich and Corpus Christi attorney Robert Clore, senior appellate counsel with the Bandas Law Firm. On Tuesday, Froelich said his client will post the bond. Clore couldn't be reached for comment.

Frank said he and Watkins already have jointly posted their bonds but will appeal Thrash's order.

Frank said Thrash's factual findings are "without basis" and contended that through his Center for Class Action Fairness, now part of the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, he has "won hundreds of millions of dollars for class members" in other cases where he either has been or represented objectors.

Cochran couldn't be reached for comment.

Counsel for the class of 147 million consumers asked Thrash last month to require objectors who appealed the settlement to post $20,000 bonds as security for costs associated with the appeals. Co-lead class counsel Ken Canfield of Atlanta's Doffermyre Shields Canfield & Knowles declined to comment on the order Tuesday.

Thrash said the courts traditionally presume that an objector is financially able to post an appeal bond and that the burden is on objectors to present "sufficient financial information" to prove a bond is beyond their means.

Thrash said West is represented by counsel, "who presumably have agreed to advance litigation expenses on his behalf."

"Most of the other objectors have already been identified by this Court as serial objectors, who have extorted money from counsel in prior class actions to withdraw their objections, and thus should not be heard now to claim they cannot afford to put up a bond to pursue their appeals," the judge added.

Thrash was particularly caustic in addressing Andrews' tactics, which he said included "wild and outrageous accusations."

"Andrews has been cited for repeatedly filing frivolous objections and related motions; sanctioned for engaging in vexatious and bad faith litigation; arrested and held in contempt for violating a court order," Thrash wrote. "One of his litigation tactics is to make outrageous and utterly unsubstantiated charges of fraud, collusion, and unethical conduct regarding class counsel and the courts evaluating the fairness of class action settlements to which he has objected."

In a separate May 7 order, Thrash denied Andrews' motion to waive all costs of his appeal, saying Andrews "is acting maliciously."

"Given Mr. Andrews' propensity to make outrageously false statements in the pleadings filed in this Court, the Court does not accept his claim that his monthly expenses exactly equal his monthly income," the judge wrote.

Thrash also castigated Andrews for "making repetitive scandalous allegations in this case, his threats of harm to class counsel's ability to litigate future class action cases free of baseless allegations of fraud, and his history of engaging in similar behavior when objecting to other settlements."

Andrews claimed Tuesday that Thrash has treated his objection "like it was invisible" and that labeling him a serial objector is "propaganda."

Andrews also contended that class counsel and the court "are scared of a reversal." He cited cases in two other circuits where he said he has appeals pending "which I will win."