A Chicago appeals court has found two prominent lawyers who frequently object to class action settlements committed “a fraud on the court” and referred them to state authorities for possible disciplinary actions.

The First District of the Illinois Appellate Court issued a ruling just before Thanksgiving that referred attorneys Christopher Bandas and C. Jeffrey Thut to the Illinois Supreme Court’s disciplinary commission. The three-judge panel Nov. 20 found that Thut, of Noonan Perillo & Thut in Waukegan, Illinois, had helped Bandas, of the Bandas Law Firm in Corpus Christi, Texas, engaged in the unauthorized practice of law in Illinois by signing his court papers and appearing in court for an objector named Gary Stewart in a class action against Gannett Co. for alleged breaches of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act in marketing its newspapers.