In an update provided to the court ahead of the final approval hearing, the Bartz Class Counsel announced a stunning participation rate of 91.3 percent — or 440,409 of 482,460 works in the class — have been claimed for distribution of the class settlement funds.
91.3 percent participation for a non-personal injury class action is enormous. I dare say, historic. Based on my prior research, class participation rates from other areas of law involving non-personal injury tend to be rather modest, around 10 – 20%.
- Consumer class actions: median rate of 9% (per FTC survey)
- Facebook data privacy class action: 22% (*per Law36 but unclear how this % was compauted) (about 28 million made claims per Kiplinger)
- Securities class action: under 1% to below 10% (per Mayer Brown study)
- 3M Combat Earplugs Settlement mass torts/personal injury: 99% (or 250,000 claimants) (per 3M)
The high participation rate likely indicates that the majority of class members approve of the settlement. Of course, some class members have filed objections. But they represent a small percentage of the entire class of authors whose works are within the class. And the objectors will be able to voice their views at the final approval hearing.
Give credit to where credit is due. Class Counsel did an impressive job to achieve the largest copyright settlement in U.S. history, with a historic 91.3% claims participation rate.
Both numbers are off the charts.
Bartz Class Counsel’s update:
DOWNLOAD THE BARTZ CLASS FILING
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