No. 18-__ IN THE Supreme Court of the United States ———— BRIAN PERRYMAN, Petitioner, v. JOSUE ROMERO, et al., Respondents. ———— On Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ———— PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI ———— THEODORE H. FRANK Counsel of Record HAMILTON LINCOLN LAW INSTITUTE CENTER FOR CLASS ACTION FAIRNESS 1629 K Street N.W., Suite 300 Washington, D.C. 20006 (703) 203-3848
[email protected] Counsel for Petitioner WILSON-EPES PRINTING CO., INC. – (202) 789-0096 – WASHINGTON, D. C. 20002 QUESTION PRESENTED Rule 23(e)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires that the district court approve class-action settlements only if a settlement is “fair, reasonable, and adequate.” The limitations that this language of Rule 23(e) places on the approval of cy pres settle- ments are presently before this Court in Frank v. Gaos, No. 17-961 (argued Oct. 31, 2018), on a writ of certiorari to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In this case, the Ninth Circuit applied the same circuit precedent at issue in Gaos to sustain a class settlement that resulted in a mere $225,000 in cash refunds to 3,000 class members out of a class of 1.3 million (plus a mostly worthless $20 coupon to each class member). That $225,000 paid to class members is, however, dwarfed by settlement provisions that paid $8.85 million to class counsel and directed approximately $3 million in cy pres to three local schools, including the alma mater law school of several of the attorneys.