7-Eleven Owners For Fair Franchising v. Southland Corp.

In Rebney v. Wells Fargo Bank (1990) 220 Cal.App.3d 1117 [ 269 Cal.Rptr. 844 ], an appeal from a judgment entered on a class action settlement, Justice Benson, then a member of this court, began his opinion this way: “According to the parties, the appeals are about either collusion or fantasy. Appellants contend the [class action] settlements were the product of a collusive sellout between class counsel and the banks. Respondents claim the appeals are attributable to appellants’ fantasy vision of wondrously large money judgments.” (Id. at p. 1124.) That wry description might easily fit these appeals as well.

Several “objectors” to a class action settlement agreement reached between the plaintiff class representatives and the corporate defendant, and approved by the Alameda County Superior Court following several evidentiary hearings, appeal from the ensuing judgment, contending in substance that the settlement agreement was the product of collusion among succeeding class counsel, the class representatives, and defendant The Southland Corporation and its counsel; was not fair, adequate, and reasonable; and was *1141 grossly undervalued. The objectors also contend that the…