It is a deal between the tobacco industry and a few contingency-fee attorneys (whose pay will not be challenged, as per the settlement), with the states taking a windfall-payment in exchange for co-signing the deal.

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These attorneys work under a contingency-fee arrangement, meaning they are paid a portion (usually one-third) of the money they are able to collect for the victims.

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Businesses that have been created include fantasy sports insurance salesmen and attorneys who will disputes between players for a fee.

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Class-action activist Ted Frank has filed an objection to the proposed fee, however, saying the markups on contract attorneys are excessive given experience levels of many of the lawyers involved.

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Posner chucked out the suit in a 2008 decision that should be required reading for all law students, explaining how attorneys in such cases and their targets have an incentive to settle for peanuts since the lawyers will get a fee and the defendant will avoid millions of dollars in discovery costs.

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