U.S. District Judge William Orrick III of the Northern District of California. Photo by Jason Doiy/ALM 'Barrage of Suspect Claims' Hampers Altria Class Settlement With Juul Users
At a Wednesday hearing, lawyers predicted that as many as 80% of the claims made in Altria's $45.5 million class settlement over Juul could be invalid or fraudulent.
March 06, 2024 at 07:38 PM
5 minute read
What You Need to Know
- U.S. District Judge William Orrick III suggested that lawyers contact federal prosecutors about so-called click farms, which are making fraudulent Altria claims.
- Fraudulent claims are becoming increasingly frequent in class action settlements with the rise of AI and other technologies.
- Orrick said he would approve Altria's $45.5 million class settlement, overruling a handful of objections.
Plaintiffs lawyers asking to approve a $45.5 million class action settlement with Altria over Juul cigarettes told a federal judge Wednesday that they received 14.4 million claims, nearly five times what was expected—but about 80% of them were likely invalid or fraudulent.
"The innovation appears to be endless," Dena Sharp, co-lead plaintiffs counsel in the Juul multidistrict litigation, told U.S. District Judge William Orrick III at a hearing. "It's likely a combination of a relatively small number of bad actors using the force multipliers of AI and everything the internet has to offer."
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