Quixotic quest: make the lawyers filing class actions more interested in the welfare of their clients than in lining their own pockets. The crusader on this mission: Theodore H. Frank, the 54-year-old co-founder and lead actor at a nonprofit called the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute.

The class lawsuit industry is a peculiarly American one in which law firms collect fees for bringing cases against corporations on behalf of thousands or millions of victims. The misdeed alleged might be charging an impermissible overdraft fee, issuing a merger document that is insufficiently wordy or leaving too much air at the top of a cereal box.

Then, long before any witness is called to the stand, the case is settled. The settlement typically has the corporation agreeing to pay rewards to a few named plaintiffs working with the lawyers and a tiny recompense to the millions of consumers or investors who are in the class. This resolution is accompanied by a very generous contribution to the bank account of the plaintiff law firm.

That’s when Ted Frank or one of the six lawyers working with him jumps in. They ask the judge overseeing the litigation to reduce the pay to the plaintiff lawyers, increase the compensation to the victim class or just throw the whole case out. As often as not, they get a result. Frank says that Hamilton Lincoln’s Center for Class Action Fairness has participated in 125 cases and won at least a partial victory in a comfortable majority.

In August Frank’s institute scored a win in the Seventh Circuit when an appeals court threw out a $57 million payday for the lawyers who won $181 million on behalf of consumers who overpaid for broiler chicken. If the lower court goes along, grocery store customers will get a larger share of that $181 million. If you bought raw chicken between 2012 and 2019, submit a claim at overchargedforchicken.com.

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