Tuition COVID Settlement
- Thread starter srru86
- Start date
Regardless of the outcome, all the lawyers were happy. Made a bunch of money.
The lawyers for the plaintiffs were particularly happy. This was a class action suit, and in such suits the lawyers for the class are paid on a contingency fee basis -- they get a percentage of the award or settlement as compensation instead of an hourly fee. Often contingent fees amount to one-third to two-fifths of the total award. Here the settlement is $5 million. So the lawyers for the class are probably getting between $1.6 million and $2 million. Nice work if you can get it.
Keep in mind that the lawyer working on a contingency fee basis gets nothing if the plaintiff doesn't recover. For this reason, lawyers who work on this bases screen prospective cases *very* carefully to minimize the number of cases that will result in no recovery. Even so, being a lawyer whose compensation is based only on contingency fees is a risky business.
When, as here, the University is sued, it retains outside lawyers who work with the University's office of general counsel on defending the case. Outside counsel get paid based on the hours worked on the matter. The rules on calculating hours have become much more pro-client than when I was a young lawyer. For some info, see this link: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/...ofessional-life/billing-tips-for-new-lawyers/ Even so, lawyers' fees can, as you imagine, become quite expensive.
so basically if RU had just given each student a $100 credit they would have likely saved a million or more. What a waste these things are. Like when you get all those emails for class action you know nothing about and you register (if you do. I don't always) and you read the settlement projections you get 2 free coupons to use if you buy something else or a check for $5.25 two years later lol.
Wasn’t there one against Blue Cross like that where it really did come down to a couple gallons of gas for each BSBC member lol.
Yes, the students would have come out ahead. But Rutgers refused to give any credit. The only way for the students to get any money at all was to bring suit.
Yes, cases like that happen where the only ones who benefit are the lawyers owho organized the class and brought the class action. But class settlements must be approved by the judge in the case, and that restrains at least some bad settlements. In this case, though, the students actually are getting something -- a credit. It's not a big credit ($45 or so after paying for the settlement), but it's better than nothing. Rutgers had refused to give them anything at all.
In retrospect, sure, but that assumes everything plays out the same. I would imagine someone willing to sue might find $100 on the front end insufficient or even insulting compared to tuition costs and sued anyway. Who knows how this might have affected the settlement or whether it gets settled as well as associated fees
Of course. Perhaps there's a business opportunity for someone to calculate odds and chances for payment, etc so folks could make a educated bet lol.
Gotta be a lot of data out there and a chance for an algorithm.
I's all speculation, but the plaintiffs might have found it harder to get a lawyer to take the case if Rutgers had offered a $100 credit. Lawyers will take contingency fee cases like this only if they think they'll win, and the chances of success would have been lower if Rutgers had offered a credit in the first place. But, as I say, it's all speculation.
College students must be relieved of draconian COVID restrictions now
Almost two years later, nothing has returned to normal on many American campuses— including my own.
nypost.com
