Re: "a full third of the package [..] has been earmarked to cover attorney fees"
Anthelmintic resistance. The lawyers have been in the gut of Justice, doing what they do, for so long that, even though we know what they're doing, they just do what they want, ethical outrage has no effect.
Anthem, Anthelmintic, pure happenstance. Just a memory aid.
In the generalized case, class action lawyers who agree to a modest settlement with substantial full-rate fees to themselves from said settlement, could turn around and also receive under-the-table kickbacks from the wrongdoer (oops, they never admit they goofed). The settlement is a "negotiation" where only one side of the dispute is at the table. I wonder if the Panama Papers have been scanned with an eye to this sort of possibility, though maybe even Secret Banking is considered too open for such a transaction. Even if such happened only once: comped privileges at a country club or wholesale pricing of a company's product; it is a monstrous breach of trust.
Kickbacks or none, courts, which are good at picking holes in and nullifying poorly thought-out legislation, are overdue for retooling the class action aspect of their own existence. IANALBIPOOTI.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
