Lawyers get $4 Million
By Ria Sharma

In 2006, a number of American businesses and individuals got together to launch a class action against Yahoo.  Their allegations against Yahoo were that it ‘breached its contract with its customers by allowing Yahoo! ads to be displayed in spyware, domain name parking sites (bulk registration sites), pop-ups, pop-unders and typosquatting sites‘ .

After more than three years of legal wrangling, a settlement was reached in October, 2009.  Yahoo did not admit liability but offered substantial compensation. Yahoo also agreed to enhance its Advertising System to allow advertisers more control over their ads.

While the lawyers fighting the class action case against Yahoo have earned in excess of $4 million, many complainants got only $20.  Some have got nothing.

Only problem for the lawyers who sued Yahoo?  One of the guys in the class action suit is a lawyer himself and he is not happy at getting $ 0.  Eric Turkewitz is now suing the lawyers who sued Yahoo.

Lawyer Eric Turkewitz blogged on Dec 15.

“
So after Yahoo's notice of settlement of the class action regarding pay-per-click fraud arrived in my mailbox -- and having read it and realized I'd gotten the shaft -- I knew who to call. I had received that notice because I had used Yahoo's pay per click service from 2001 to 2005. I dumped the company in late 2005 when I strongly suspected click-fraud and the company did nothing about it. Over the years I spent about $5,000 per year on these ads, about $22,000 in total. I imagine that makes me a typical small business owner in the world of pay-per-click advertising.

There was just one bitty problem with the settlement that I took issue with. While the lawyers were asking for over four million dollars in legal fees, I got nothing. As in nada. Zip. Bupkus. And not just me, but if this settlement is approved the vast majority of the class will come away with checks for a similar amount: Zero.
“

As you can see, it is never easy for any individual to go against the might of big companies.  Even if they win, they get a paltry amount.  If Eric’s legal case is successful, the compensation may be more equitable but it will only be granted after the new legal case is over. And that could mean more months if not years.

Yahoo was big in India during that time.  Perhaps, Indian victims can think of a similar case in Indian courts.