Named plaintiffs are the heart of class action lawsuits—without them, there is no class action. To motivate these individuals to be the face of the class and compensate them for their role in the litigation process, courts typically approve named plaintiff incentive awards when such awards are included in settlement offers. Recently, however, the Eleventh Circuit held that these awards are prohibited under purported Supreme Court precedent from the late 1800s. This decision undermines the future of class actions by removing any incentive individuals may have in taking on the extra work and scrutiny of bringing a class action lawsuit. This Note argues that the circuit split created by the Eleventh Circuit is unsupported by Supreme Court precedent and runs counter to decades of precedent existing in the lower and appellate courts. This Note also proposes a change to the Rules of Professional Conduct—namely, allowing for attorney-client fee splitting in the class action context—to better protect incentive awards from judicial intervention.
