A two-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals
yesterday rejected an $18 million settlement in the long-running
class action suit filed by freelance writers following the
landmark Tasini case, and in the process have likely killed the
chances of a revised Google settlement. In a 2-1 ruling, the
second circuit yesterday held that the district court which
approved a settlement between freelance writers and publishers
in the class action case known shorthand as Freelance "abused
its discretion in certifying the class and approving the
Settlement, because the named plaintiffs failed to adequately
represent the interests of all class members." New York Law
School’s James Grimmelmann didn’t mince words. "The Google Books
settlement—any settlement—is now dead," he noted. "There is no
square one: this case is going back to litigation."  That’s
because the Second Circuit in Freelance has now essentially
ruled that big, general author classes are too broad to be
certified, and cobbling together a suitable sla