Texas lawyer objects to class action settlements to extract payments. Has played a role in settlements involving Facebook, Apple
Michael J. Bologna reports for Bloomberg Law
Texas attorney Christopher Bandas has made a name for himself in the legal community, and not in a good way. Regarded as the most prolific “serial objector” in the country, Bandas routinely objects to class action settlements, hoping to leverage a payment from the settling attorneys to simply “go away.”
The business model, seen as a form of legal “extortion” among critics, has paid Bandas handsomely over the years. But two recent court rulings and revisions to the rules of civil procedure may signal an end to this much-maligned practice.
The first whiff of trouble for Bandas came on Nov. 20 last year, when an Illinois appeals court found Bandas had engaged in an unethical pattern of “rent-seeking behavior.” The appeals court judges also found Bandas had “engaged in a fraud on the court” worthy of discipline by the state.
The ruling responded to Bandas’ efforts to object to a class settlement involving the media company Gannett Co., which was accused of placing millions of robocalls to consumers in violation of federal telephone marketing statutes.
The news for Bandas got worse Dec. 1, when new class action requirements became effective under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. The new rules require side payments to class settlement objectors – transactions characterized as “greenmail” – to be approved by a district court. The new requirements seek to deter boilerplate and frivolous petitions, potentially extinguishing Bandas’ business model.
And on Jan. 17 U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer issued an attention-getting order finding that Bandas had engaged in the unauthorized practice of law. The order responded to Bandas’ own admission of responsibility in a lawsuit in federal court in Chicago that alleged professional misconduct. The lawsuit followed the fact pattern in the Gannett case, but portrayed it as a single chapter in an illegal racketeering scheme being replicated in jurisdictions across the country.
Pallmeyer also issued a permanent injunction that placed new limits on Bandas’ ability to object in any state or federal jurisdiction in the country.
Like this? Click to receive free updates
