Netflix Class Action Settlement Delayed

The Netflix class action lawsuit settlment has been delayed for 30 days.

Adam Gutride, one of the attorneys pursuing the suit on behalf of Netflix subscribers, said Thursday that the hearing originally scheduled for next Wednesday was postponed after more than 30 parties objected to the settlement.

The FTC got involved because the settlement "...would serve more as a promotional vehicle for Netflix, than a means of providing redress to consumers..." Here's a link to the FTC press release.

I wonder if Netflix will just change the offer to automatically "opt-out" customers that take advantage of the settlement terms (a free month for ex-subscribers or one extra movie out for a month).

An interesting tidbit from the story regarding the $2.53 million legal fee:

In court documents, Gutride and another attorney, Seth Safier, have maintained that their requested fee is justified because they have already spent more than 2,100 hours on a case that prompted Netflix to acknowledge that customers paying the same fee for its service aren't always treated equally.

Comments

2,100 hours. That's $1,200 an hour!

"2,100 hours. That's $1,200 an hour!"

Don't forgot that also includes the charges for photocopies, staples, paperclips, post-it notes, lunches, shoe-shines, breast implants for their receptionist, etc, etc...

[Steve]

I would like to earn $1,200 an hour!

[Smokey the Beer]

They would make zero dollars an hour if the company didn't do something wrong to begin with.

[Becky]

For comparison, my endodontist takes four clients per hour for root canals and he makes almost $1,000 per client, per hour.

They bill what the market can bear. In other words, we're the suckers if we pay them instead of shopping around or doing without.

However, the defendent in a suit can't pick and choose the lawyers who are suing him.

[Rick H]

The FTC and the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (representing those who objected to the settlement) have done a thorough job of discrediting the current settlement. Just read the full documents submitted by both to the court. The main strategy that Netflix attempted is an old trick that has been trashed by Case Law over the last 5 to 10 years.

Class counsel was blinded by dollars (did you note the $2.5 million fee?) or simply too incompetent to realize that the structure of the settlement was a sitting duck when seen by smarter lawyers and the FTC.

Now that bigger, better, more ethical parties have come to the aid of the plaintiffs, Netflix has a major problem. The judge will throw out the settlement or, perhaps let the parties fix the settlement. It is not going to be $4 million when they are done. You should be very sure of that.