BALTIMORE (Legal Newsline) – The parties in a class action case against Burger King Corp. have asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland to preliminarily approve a settlement between the parties.
The unopposed motion, filed on Oct. 11 by the plaintiffs, explains that although the settlement agreement was reached prior to much formal discovery, both parties feel the agreement is fair, and the primary plaintiff, Koleta Anderson, is satisfied that her demands have been met.
The plaintiffs alleged that Burger King restaurants had charged consumers using a buy-one, get-one free coupon more for two Croissan’wich sandwiches than they should have paid for just one. After an internal investigation, the motion states that Burger King found that this had occurred, though less than 10 percent of all Croissan’wich coupon purchases between Oct. 1, 2015, and May 19, 2017, had been affected. The company allegedly updated its franchisees’ software to resolve the problem.
After the issue had been resolved, Burger King approached the plaintiffs, offering to settle the case, accepting an injunctive relief settlement and offering $5 cash for each occurrence proven with a receipt, or a $2 gift card for a sworn statement, according to the motion. As each instance resulted in an overcharge of roughly 25 cents, both parties felt this amount was fair.
Under the terms of the settlement, however, the company would not release any damages claims, but class members will be allowed to seek damages individually after the settlement.
As part of the settlement, the plaintiff’s counsel will seek $185,000 in attorneys’ fees and up to $10,000 in expenses, an amount the motion deems “very modest and reasonable.”
In addition to the request that the court approve the proposed settlement, the motion also asked that the court certify the proposed class, so as to facilitate the settlement, and that it schedule a settlement hearing. That hearing was held Nov. 8 before Judge Theodore D. Chuang.