In June 2013, in In re Bank of America Corp. Securities Litigation, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri awarded $2.7 million as a cy pres award to a local legal aid agency. That award is being challenged on appeal to the Eighth Circuit by the individual plaintiff, who has fallen out with class counsel and is now represented by the Center For Class Action Fairness (an organization of professional objectors that challenge class action settlements and in particular to opposes large fees for lead counsel and cy pres awards in general and the same that challenged the Facebook case before the U.S. Supreme Court). As the case has the potential to generate bad precedent for cy pres awards to legal services organizations nationwide, and APBCo and the National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA) submitted an amicus brief that we hope will help guide the Eighth Circuit.
Listen to the Eighth Circuit Oral Argument.