A federal appeals court has tossed out a settlement of hearing loss claims involving Motorola’s Bluetooth headsets, ruling that the trial judge failed to adequately test whether the attorney fees were excessive.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Aug. 19 reversed and remanded the settlement, which provided for $100,000 in cy pres awards-gifts to various charitable organizations-and $800,000 to the plaintiffs’ lawyers. The plaintiffs received no economic recovery other than $12,000 allocated for nine class representatives.
