On October 29, the Federal Trade Commission will host a workshop in Washington, DC on improving class action settlement notices for consumers.  The workshop will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Constitution Center, 400 7th St., SW, Washington, DC, and will be webcast live.

Workshop panels include experts who will address the current challenges in reaching consumers, research on consumer class actions, and opportunities for increasing consumer recovery rates.  According to the FTC, its Class Action Fairness Project has followed developments in class action cases for more than a decade to ensure that class action settlements in consumer protection and competition matters provide appropriate benefits to consumers.

FTC staff recently completed a staff report summarizing the findings of two studies involving consumer class actions: the Administrator Study and the Notice Study.  The Administrator Study analyzed settlement characteristics (such as notice methods and compensation) from more than 140 consumer class action cases and examined how these characteristics relate to case outcomes, including claim-filing and check-cashing rates.  The Notice Study was an internet-based consumer research study to explore consumer perceptions of class action notices, such as whether consumers understand the options provided in such notices.

The FTC has recently posted an agenda and list of speakers for the workshop.  The workshop is free and open to the public on a first come, first served basis.