$5.5M in refunds settles kickbacks lawsuit
50,000 checks sent over alleged overpayment for hazard reports
By Matt Carter, Wednesday, July 15, 2009.
Refund checks are in the mail to more than 50,000 Californians who allegedly overpaid for natural hazard disclosure reports because the real estate brokerages that listed their homes were taking kickbacks from the company producing the reports.
A total of $5.5 million in refunds are being paid out to consumers under the terms of a class-action lawsuit settlement. But the lawyers who filed the case ended up taking home nearly twice that much: $9.47 million in attorneys' fees plus $363,000 in expenses, or $9.83 million in total.
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