Charities Benefit From Class-Action Lawsuit Money
November 27, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
Charities are benefiting from the growing number of judges who give unclaimed class-action settlement money to them, reports The New York Times.
As examples, the article notes that Judge Harold Baer Jr., of New York, who presided over a case two years ago involving fashion models, decided to give $6-million in unclaimed money to substance-abuse programs and other charities that deal with problems common among models. And as a result of a diabetes- drug settlement in Illinois, millions of dollars in leftover money was given to the Illinois Institute of Technology and to Lubavitch Chabad of Illinois, a Hasidic group.
The practice has attracted a great deal of criticism.
“It gives rise to this unbelievable world that I was shocked to learn about, and I’m not easily shocked in litigation,” said Samuel Issacharoff, a law professor at New York University. “Charities hire lawyers to go lobby the judge for the extra money.”
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