id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentence	flesch	summary	cache	txt
inlawrev-3261	Maley, John R.	Survey of Developments in Indiana Civil Procedure	1997	10	.pdf	application/pdf	4271	234	60	The trial court should follow a two-step process in assessing fairness of settlement: (1) a preliminary evaluation of the fairness of the settlement; and (2) a formal fairness hearing where arguments for and against settlement are heard;** Indiana courts should employ six factors as a useful guide in structuring their opinions on fairness of class settlements: (1) the strength of the plaintiffs' case measured against the terms of the settlement; (2) the complexity, length, and expense of continued litigation; (3) the degree of opposition to the settlement; (4) the benefit of the settlement to class representatives and their counsel compared to the benefit of settlement to the class members; (5) the opinion of competent counsel as to the reasonableness of the settlement; and (6) the stage of the proceedings and the amount of discovery completed/^ Applying the six factors noted above, the Indiana Supreme Court determined that the trial court abused its discretion in approving the class settlement in Hefty. The court of appeals also ruled that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in selecting dismissal as the sanction given plaintiffs failure to appear for two properly noticed depositions.^^ The decision shows that Indiana appellate courts are not tolerant of discovery abuses, and review sanctions orders deferentially, as they should. vn.	cache/inlawrev-3261.pdf	txt/inlawrev-3261.txt