Grand Theft Auto: Class Action - the argument
By popular demand, here is my first-hand account of arguing at yesterday’s Grand Theft Auto fairness hearing:
Of course, it’s a pain in the butt for an objector to show up in court. I had laid out $700+ in expenses plus a weekend spent writing a brief to get to this stage. Then, the drive to New York cost a small fortune in tolls and gas, even in my Prius. I then chose my parking garage poorly, so that was another $40.
All this over a game I spent $49.99+tax on that isn’t even worth a buck if I tried to sell it on Ebay. And there’s no official or formal mechanism for me to recover any of that expense (see ¶ 16). So for at least one time in the history of Overlawyered, I can say that a court appearance really is not about the money. And it’s perfectly understandable that no one else wants to bother to object: there’s nothing in objecting for them. But had I not shown up, the settlement had a very good chance of being rubber stamped, and there would be no appellate review.
Judge Shirley Wohl Kram was born in 1922. She calls the court to order a bit after the 10:30 scheduled starting time. The special master, a Howrey attorney, reports on the elaborate procedures used, at a cost of over $800,000, to provide notice and determine the appropriateness of the 2700 or so claims, and announces a distribution of about $20,000 in cash to class members. The special master, a former clerk of Judge Kram’s, will receive $485/hour for his work at Take Two’s expense.
After some hubbub over whether I am sure that I want to represent myself pro se, the judge suggests to me (perhaps after the hinting of the plaintiffs’ filings) that my brief was late, but she’ll let me argue. I quietly point out that Local Rule 6.1(b)(2) permits a response to a motion within ten business days, and mine was filed within nine business days, so there can be no issue of lateness. I briefly outline my arguments, note that the plaintiffs’ reply brief makes all of the arguments for the fairness of the settlement in terms of its fairness to the subclass of allegedly offended-and-upset class members rather than the ten-million-member class that they’re asking certification of, note that the original claim was for over a billion dollars, and ask that the plaintiff’s attorney be required to state whether they think they have a meritorious case. If they have a meritorious case (as they claim once again in Wednesday’s New York Times), they have no business settling it for $20,000, and the settlement must be rejected; if, on the other hand, they want to represent to the court that a $20,000 settlement is fair because the lawsuit they brought has less than a 0.01% chance of success, then perhaps Rule 11 sanctions are appropriate, rather than attorneys’ fees.
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