| Volume 143 Number 92 |
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The People’s Lawyer’s Tip of the Day
Getting free stuff is cool…until it isn’t free. It is decidedly uncool when, after luring you in with “free trials” for products you might like, a company hits you with surprise charges during the supposedly “free” trial period. Click here for more.
Gas prices remarkably stable over the last week
Americans simply aren’t driving as much as they used to, and entering the fall months when refineries are switching over to winter gasoline blends, gas prices have continued to drift lower in many states.
The AAA Fuel Gauge Survey shows the national average price of regular gas is $2.19 a gallon, a penny more than last week but a penny less than two weeks ago. The price is still 47 cents a gallon less than this time last year.
The average price of premium gas is $2.80 a gallon up from $2.79 last Friday. The average price of diesel fuel is $2.40 a gallon, the same as a week ago. Click here for more.
Your Money
While many individuals may not be putting away enough in their nest egg, the flipside could also be true. “It’s hard to think of the possibility of saving too much, but diligent savers and investors are sometimes able to reach their savings goals prior to their actual retirement date,” says Kali Hassinger, a certified financial planner at the Center for Financial Planning, Inc. in Southfield, Michigan. After reaching their goals, super savers may go above and beyond the amount needed to carry out their lifestyle as retirees. While saving too much isn’t necessarily a negative habit, it can be helpful to understand where you stand with your level of savings. “There are rules of thumb about how much of your income you should save, but there is no one-size-fits-all savings total or threshold,” Hassinger says. The amount you need is based on the expenses you will have during retirement, including activities you want to carry out like traveling or purchasing a home. It will also depend on the return rates you receive from your savings and investments. Use the following signs to determine if you’re saving too much for retirement: Click here for more.
For the Lawyers
Class-action “incentive” awards are prohibited. The Eleventh Circuit held that so-called "incentive" or "service" awards to named class-action plaintiffs are unlawful. That is, in a class-action settlement, a named plaintiff may not be paid extra money (over and above money paid to all class members) as reimbursement/compensation for her efforts on behalf of the class or as an incentive to act as a representative plaintiff. As recognized by the court, such awards are common in most class actions. The court noted that, “in approving the settlement here, the district court repeated several errors that, while clear to us, have become commonplace in everyday class-action practice.” The district court awarded the class representative a $6,000 “[i]ncentive [p]ayment,” as “acknowledgment of his role in prosecuting th[e] case on behalf of the [c]lass [m]embers.” Relying on two Supreme Court cases from the1800s, the court stated, “in so doing, we conclude, the court ignored on-point Supreme Court precedent prohibiting such awards. The court recognized, however, that the District Court was acting as most other courts act. “We don’t necessarily fault the district court—it handled the class-action settlement here in pretty much exactly the same way that hundreds of courts before it have handled similar settlements. But familiarity breeds inattention, and it falls to us to correct the errors in the case before us.” Johnson v. NPAS Solutions, (11th Cir.) Click here for more.