In a successful federal class action against AT&T, the class was about six million members, but only 6,961 people filed claims on the $10.2 million fund after $500,000 in advertising. The lawyers have already been paid $6.2 million, or nearly 38% of the common fund. At least the settlement was structured so that it's the claimants who get most of the windfall rather than unrelated third-party charities. But heaven forfend they use actual AT&T customer lists. The attorneys say that doing so would have cost $2 million (an implausible claim), but even that would have resulted in more money in the class's pockets. And the attorneys didn't have any compunction in asking for an extra $2 million for themselves above the 25% benchmark at the class's expense. [SF Chronicle via @Russell_Jackson]