Civil Procedure — class actions – dismissal — appeal

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Civil

Civil Procedure — class actions – dismissal — appeal

Where no party objected to the settlement and dismissal of an appeal in a class action, the case is dismissed.

“Although we appreciate that conflicts of interest between representative plaintiffs and class members can lead the representatives to sell out for too little, no one has accused ACE of yielding to that temptation. All members of the class are large and sophisticated businesses, many with millions on the line and legal staffs to protect their interests. Even the smaller insurers receive more than $100,000 from the settlement, and if the representatives had been able to negotiate for the $3 billion the class initially sought, the average return per insurer would have exceeded $2 million (and about $750,000 apiece for the smaller insurers). The pool is a multi-billion-dollar business; its manager, which looks out for the aggregate of all members’ interests, supports both the original settlement and the dismissal of Liberty Mutual’s appeal. The Manual for Complex Litigation §21.61 (4th ed. 2004), provides a list of events that may tip off the judiciary to a problem; none of the things to watch for has occurred in this suit.”

Dismissed.

12-1157, 12-1158, 12-1186, 12-1730, 12-1753 & 12-1764 Safeco Ins. Co. of America v. AIG, Inc.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Gettleman, J., Easterbrook, J.