Coelho v. Fashion Nova, Inc.
U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
Settlement Fund
$5.2M
$5,150,000.00 total
Attorney Fees
$2.5M
48.9% of fund
Per Member Payout
$0.37
7,000,000 class members
The DOJ Civil Rights Division filed a rare formal objection to this settlement, calling out the irony of a website accessibility settlement where attorneys collect $2.52M while class members receive approximately $0.37 each. Fashion Nova is estimated to serve 7 million monthly visitors, many with disabilities impeded by inaccessible design. The settlement requires no mandatory remediation of the website that caused the violations in the first place.
Fairness Assessment
1.5
Very Unfair
Red Flags
Attorney fees ($2.52M) EXCEED class member payout ($2.43M) — 49% fee ratio
DOJ Civil Rights Division filed formal objection (rare government intervention)
Plaintiff filed 500+ near-identical ADA cases — possible pattern litigation
Per-member payout is $0.37 — essentially nominal compensation
No mandatory website accessibility improvements required