In re Cuisinart Food Processor Antitrust Litigation
United States District Court for the District of Connecticut
506 F.Supp. 651 (1981)
Purchasers of Cuisinart food processors (plaintiffs), along with the Massachusetts and New Jersey attorneys general in parens patriae actions, sued Cuisinarts, Inc. and related defendants for allegedly colluding to fix and raise prices on Cuisinart food processors sold between 1973 and 1981; before the court ruled on the defendants' motion to dismiss claims by pre-1976 purchasers, the parties reached a proposed settlement providing each class member a transferable 50%-off coupon (not usable for resale purchases), with $775,000 placed in escrow for attorneys' fees and expenses, class members required to release all claims against defendants unless they formally opted out, and a scheduled hearing at which class members could appear and raise objections, with any objections not properly presented deemed waived.
Whether the proposed class action settlement, providing discount coupons to the class and releasing all claims against the defendants, should be approved as fair, reasonable, and binding on class members who do not opt out.