Pearson v. NBTY, Inc.

Consumers (plaintiffs, led by Nick Pearson) sued NBTY, Rexall Sundown, and retailer Target (defendants) in a nationwide class action alleging false marketing claims about joint-supplement efficacy, which settled alongside five similar suits for a package including modest per-bottle claim payments, a 30-month packaging-language injunction, and various fees and awards; the district court, valuing the settlement at $20.2 million, approved $1.93 million in attorneys' fees against only $865,284 actually paid to the 30,245 claiming class members (roughly one-quarter of one percent of an estimated 12 million potential claimants), plus a $1.13 million cy pres award to an orthopedic research foundation and $1.5 million in administrative costs. Class members appealed the settlement's fairness.