In Ford Settlement, Lawyers Emerge as the Winner

The lawyers were paid millions of dollars. Ford Motor Co. put behind it a costly lawsuit connected to the Explorer rollover scandal of the 1990s. And the judge closed out a complex case that clogged a California court's overburdened calendar for more than seven years. Everyone seemingly got some tangible benefit -- except for nearly all of the 1 million consumers covered by the class action lawsuit filed in their name. None of the consumers got money, only discount coupons toward new Ford purchases.