Last week, we provided a summary of the 2019 court-approved Proposition 65 settlements. The consent judgment settlements are generally more expensive than the out of court ones in two respects. If the parties immediately negotiate and agree to the filing of a suit, a consent judgment and a motion for court approval, the attorneys' fee element will just about always be somewhat more. If suit is filed and served, and the case prosecuted to some extent before settlement, the attorneys' fee element of the settlement be much more. So while the average amount paid pursuant to a consent judgment settlement last year was $60,711 (penalties, attorneys' fees and costs, and a few additional payments), the average cost of an out of court settlement (fees and costs and penalties only) was $20,102. Here are the two charts (as in the last post, you can see these larger by clicking them):
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