Breaking: You Are Probably $125 Richer Right Now
This news isn't as exciting as a holiday bonus or a pay raise. But it does mean that if you took the Bar/Bri bar review course between 1997 and 2006 -- hey, that includes us! -- you can buy a round of $12 martinis for you and a few friends.
According to a tipster:
According to the Los Angeles Daily Journal, the Bar/Bri antitrust class action settled for $49 million, to be paid out to 290,000 clients. Each client will get $125.Bar/Bri also agreed to terminate a "co-marketing" venture with Kaplan as part of the deal. Neither defendant (Bar/Bri or Kaplan) admitted wrongdoing.
The plaintiff class is represented by McGuire Woods.
The full article, as reprinted in the National Law Journal, can be accessed here.
Update (12:30 PM): Information about how to claim your share of the settlement will appear here. Here at ATL, we're all about news you can use!
BAR/BRI monolopy class action settled for $49M [National Law Journal]
BAR/BRI Class Action Website [official site]
(27) Comments
Will I also get a fun key chain and a coffee mug as part of the settlement?
So most associates across the country get a $125 night at the bar on Conviser? Score.
Damn, I was hoping for a coupon.
So what happens if you paid the deposit, but your firm paid for the class? WHO GETS THE $??
Will this $125 help me in my quest to meet the bling-fabulous Paula Franzese? I think not...
will someone please sue micromash?
I'm glad that the plaintiffs' attorneys rejected the offer of a CD of Paula Franseze screeching her favorite pop songs.
Though I'm still thinking of opting out and suing for capital damages.
will someone please sue micromash?
I'm glad that the plaintiffs' attorneys rejected the offer of a CD of Paula Franseze screeching her favorite pop songs.
Though I'm still thinking of opting out and suing for capital damages.
Anyone know how we claim it?
Law.com says the settlement was actually $49M with Barbri's share being $36M and Kaplan's being $13M. Although it does confirm the $125 per class member. This article shouldn't need a subscription:
http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1170410590982
Thanks! I've updated and corrected the post.
I've also added a link to the site where you can find out how to claim your money:
http://www.barbri-classaction.com/barbri/default.htm
white girls with asian guys
If I'm taking course this May do I get me $125?
(I hope so b\c that will buy me lots of beer)
I just took the course this summer. How do I get my $125?
refresh your browser, click on the link to the official lawsuit website
Someone told me that Proskauer actually circulated an internal memo saying they intend to claim all the proceeds for classes that it paid for on behalf of associates.
Can we pick b/w the $125 and the post-Simpson raise?
It takes two baby, it takes two baby, to make an easement appurtenant.
Conviser matched.
We paid taxes on it, I think we should get the money. Proskauer is out to lunch.
I just assumed the firms would get the $. They paid for the course--how would I even have standing to be a part of the class?
Well, you could argue that you were the person who bought the class and that the money was just a gift from the law firm. I don't think its a ridiculous argument. Do you think the firms would be cheap enough to piss off associates for $125?
i'm assuming you get the dough, b/c it was your name on the course you bought from barbri. i'm sure if you failed, your firm would want you to pay it all back. LOL
i may be missing something, but that link doesn't tell you how to get a check for $125. looks like that page hasn't been updated since before the settlement.
This is the Proskauer memo:
From: Kafin, Robert
Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2006 3:15 PM
To: ASSC-All_Associates_Firmwide
Subject: BAR/BRI Class Action
If you took a BAR/BRI bar review course in the past nine years, and unless you opted out in the last month or two, you are a member of the class of plaintiffs in Rodriguez et al. vs West Publishing Corp et ano. See this web site if you are interested in knowing more http://www.barbri-classaction.com/barbri/default.htm.
Obviously, none of us has any idea how this will come out. If it goes the usual way of many consumer class actions, eventually some paltry amount will be offered to individual class members (or discounts on future purchases), and the time required to fill out the proof of claim, and attach supporting documentation, will not justify the potential return on a one by one basis. However, since there are probably a lot of you, and the Firm paid for many of you, it may eventually be worthwhile filing a composite proof of claim, if, as and when there is a plaintiffs' recovery.
So, this is just to let you know that this is a possibility, AND THERE IS NOTHING FOR YOU TO DO RIGHT NOW. If there is a plaintiffs' recovery, the Firm will probably get its own notice as it too is a member of the class. But, I'd like to collect as many individual ones as I can, so send them along if it ever happens.
Thanks.
Bob
That Proskauer memo doesn't suggest that the firm is taking the $125. Quite the opposite.
Franzese fan, of Feb 6, 12:21, you are a poor deluded fool. I have had to sit through lectures given by this tiresome personality, as she retails half-baked jokes about herself as a 6-year-old legal genius, and fabulous is a word that comes to mind only as a descriptor of what would happen if she were muzzled.