I filed my second objection to the Honda Civic Hybrid Settlement this year, and they were nice enough to send me a CD of all the other letters that were submitted to the court.
Scorecard
- There were 3 letters in favor of the settlement
- There were 45 letters opposing the settlement
The Supporting Letters Were From
- The lawyers, Jonathan Cuneo and Nicholas Chimicles (who also filed for fee reimbursement of $2.332M and $2.995M, respectively).
- The mediator of the original settlement, Howard Wiener.
- Rust Consulting, paid for by American Honda Motor.
Summary
- The lawyers who are getting paid millions love it.
- Not a single member of the settlement class wrote in favor of the settlement.
- Honda just wants to pay this ransom and move on.
I’m under no illusion that my letter will have any effect.
It is a measurable fact that Cuneo and Chimicles are poor negotiators. Although damages are in the thousands of dollars per individual, they could only negotiate a $100 settlement for us. This is in spite of the fact that another member of the class, Heather Peters, was able to successfully negotiate $9,867 for herself – nearly 100 times more than Cuneo and Chimicles.
Sadly, Cuneo and Chimicles will not be fired for their lackluster performance. Instead, for this one case, they will each be paid a multi-million dollar sum greater than the average American will earn in his entire lifetime (median salary * 45 years).