Foreword: Reflections on the adjudication-settlement divide

Fordham Law Review

Volumn 78, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 1117-1127

  Erichson, Howard M ^a  

^a FORDHAM UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 75749114110     PISSN: 0015704X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (78)

1. Owen M. Fiss, Against Settlement, 93 YALE L. J. 1073, 1089 (1984).
2. 93 YALE L. J. 1073.
3. Id. at 1085.
4. Amy J. Cohen, Revisiting Against Settlement: Some Reflections on Dispute Resolution and Public Values, 78 FORDHAM L. REV. 1143 (2009).
5. Id. at 1147.
6. Id. at 1167-68.
7. Kenneth R. Feinberg, Reexamining the Arguments in Owen Fiss, Against Settlement, 78 FORDHAM L. REV. 1171, 1173 (2009).
8. Id. at 1171-72.
9. Id. at 1172.
10. Id. at 1171.
11. Id. at 1176.
12. Michael Moffitt, Three Things To Be Against ("Settlement" Not Included), 78 FORDHAM L. REV. 1203, 1245 (2009).
13. Id.
14. Id. at 1218-32.
15. Id. at 1245.
16. Susan Sturm & Howard Gadlin, Conflict Resolution and Systemic Change, 2007 J. DISP. RESOL. 1, 52.
17. Id. at 57.
18. Samuel Issacharoff & Robert H. Klonoff, The Public Value of Settlement, 78 FORDHAM L. REV. 1177, 1179 (2009).
19. See PRINCIPLES OF THE LAW OF AGGREGATE LITIGATION § 3.06 (Proposed Final Draft 2009) (proposing that settlement class actions be certifiable even if they could not be certified for litigation);
20. id. § 3.14 (opposing collateral attacks on class settlements);
21. id. § 3.17 (b) (proposing that clients be permitted to give advance consent to aggregate settlements with a supermajority voting provision).
22. Issacharoff & Klonoff, supra note 18, at 1179-84.
23. Id. at 1184-88.
24. Id. at 1190-95.
25. Id at 1195.
26. Id. at 1199.
27. Jack B. Weinstein, Comments on Owen M. Fiss, Against Settlement (1984), 78 FORDHAM L. REV. 1265 (2009).
28. Id. at 1266.
29. 347 U. S. 483 (1954).
30. Weinstein, supra note 25, at 1268.
31. Id. at 1265, 1268-70.
32. In re "Agent Orange" Prod. Liab. Litig., 597 F. Supp. 740 (E. D. N. Y. 1984) (approving class action settlement), aff'd, 818 F.2d 145 (2d Cir. 1987).
33. Weinstein, supra note 25, at 1268-69.
34. Id.
35. Jacqueline Nolan-Haley, Mediation Exceptionality, 78 FORDHAM L. REV. 1247, 1249 (2009).
36. Id. at 1250-51.
37. John Bronsteen, Some Thoughts About the Economics of Settlement, 78 FORDHAM L. REV. 1129, 1129-30 (2009).
38. Id. at 1133-41.
39. Owen Fiss, The History of an Idea, 78 FORDHAM L. REV. 1273 (2009).
40. Id. at 1274.
41. Id. at 1276.
42. Owen M. Fiss, Foreword: The Forms of Justice, 93 HARV. L. REV. 1 (1979).
43. Fiss, supra note 37, at 1275.
44. Fiss, supra note 1, at 1076-78.
45. Id. at 1078-82.
46. Id. at 1085-87.
47. Fiss, supra note 37, at 1276 ("On reflection, this portion of the essay seems labored....").
48. Id.
49. Id. at 1277.
50. Id. at 1276, 1277, 1278, 1279.
51. Id. at 1278.
52. See Howard M. Erichson, A Typology of Aggregate Settlements, 80 NOTRE DAME L. REV. 1769, 1798, 1802 (2005);
53. Howard M. Erichson, Public and Private Law Perspectives: Transcript of Professor Howard Erichson, 37 SW. U. L. REV. 665, 665-68 (2008);
54. Howard M. Erichson, The Trouble with All-or-Nothing Settlements, 58 U. KAN. L. REV. (forthcoming May 2010).
55. FED. R. CIV. P. 23 (e) ("The claims, issues, or defenses of a certified class may be settled, voluntarily dismissed, or compromised only with the court's approval."). Settlements in shareholder derivative suits similarly require judicial approval. FED. R. CIV. P. 23.1 (c) ("A derivative action may be settled, voluntarily dismissed, or compromised only with the court's approval.").
56. FED. R. CIV. P. 23 (e) (2).
57. See Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Epstein, 516 U. S. 367, 378 (1996) (treating a judicially approved state court class action settlement as a judgment entitled to full preclusive effect under the full faith and credit statute).
58. FED. R. CIV. P. 23 (e) (1), (2), (5) (covering notice, hearing, and objectors, respectively).
59. See Matsushita, 516 U. S. at 378-79.
60. Evans v. Jeff D., 475 U. S. 717, 726 (1986) ("Rule 23 (e) wisely requires court approval of the terms of any settlement of a class action, but the power to approve or reject a settlement negotiated by the parties before trial does not authorize the court to require the parties to accept a settlement to which they have not agreed."). The same is true of shareholder derivative actions.
61. See United Founders Life Ins. Co. v. Consumers Nat'l Life Ins. Co., 447 F.2d 647, 655 (7th Cir. 1971) ("[T]he business judgment of the court is not to be substituted for that of the parties...."). This does not mean, of course, that judges lack the ability to influence the terms of class action and derivative action settlements. Among other things, judges may indicate terms that they would find acceptable. Ultimately, however, the terms of the deal belong to the negotiating parties and are submitted to the judge for approval or rejection.
62. Indeed, in Matsushita, the U. S. Supreme Court referred repeatedly to the "settlement judgment" in the prior class action. Matsushita, 516 U. S. at 372, 374, 375, 376, 377, 380, 386.
63. See generally Charles Silver & Geoffrey P. Miller, The Quasi-class Action Method of Managing Multi-district Litigations: Problems and a Proposal, 63 VAND. L. REV. (forthcoming Jan. 2010).
64. *2 (E. D. N. Y. July 31, 2009) ("In November 2005, Lilly, without conceding liability, entered into a settlement covering some 8, 000 individual plaintiffs. The settlement resolved virtually all cases then pending in the MDL, along with some state cases." (citation omitted)).
65. See In re Zyprexa Prods. Liab. Litig., No. 04-MD-01596 (JBW), 2005 WL 3117302 (E. D. N. Y. Nov. 22, 2005).
66. In re Zyprexa Prods. Liab. Litig., 433 F. Supp. 2d 268, 271 (E. D. N. Y. 2006) (citations omitted).
67. *2 (E. D. La. Aug. 3, 2009).
68. *3 (quoting In re Vioxx Prods. Liab. Litig., 574 F. Supp. 2d 606, 612 (E. D. La. 2008)).
69. *2 (footnote omitted).
70. Vioxx Master Settlement Agreement § 6.1.1 (Nov. 9, 2007), available at http://www.beasleyallen.com/alerts/attachments/ Vioxx%20Master%20Settlement%20Agree ment%20-%20With%20Exhibits.pdf ("This is a private agreement. At the request of the Parties, The Honorable Eldon E. Fallon has agreed to preside over the Program in the capacities specified herein. For convenience, Judge Fallon will be referred to herein as the 'Chief Administrator.'").
71. Mark Hamblett, Judge Seeks Further Briefing in Bank of America Bonus Case, N. Y. L. J., Aug. 11, 2009, at 1.
72. *1 (S. D. N. Y. Sept. 14, 2009).
73. *3.
74. See Fiss, supra note 1, at 1079-82 (discussing the role of class representatives and the judge's role in class settlements).
75. See id. at 1082 ("The basis for approving a settlement... [is] the settlement's approximation to judgment. This might appear to remove my objection to settlement, except that the judgment being used as a measure of the settlement is very odd indeed: It has never in fact been entered, but only imagined.").
76. Fiss, supra note 37, at 1278.
77. Id.
78. Id.