More Class Action Abuse

Lawyers took home 10 times more than their clients in a $350 million settlement with AT&T and Lucent Technologies Inc. that ended a class-action suit in Madison County, according to figures provided recently by Lucent.

The lawyers who filed the case said at one point that they represented about 29 million people who had leased telephones from the companies for far more than it would have cost to buy them. But only about 92,000 class members made claims, collecting a total of $8.4 million, said John Skalko, a spokesman for Lucent.

Meanwhile, the 44 lawyers from four firms who pursued the class action in Madison County Circuit Court got $84.5 million in fees and expenses.