A class action lawsuit filed by hundreds of Ralph Lauren interns has been settled for more than a quarter of a million dollars, but the interns themselves won’t see much of that money.

The lawsuit, filed in the Manhattan Supreme Court, claimed interns were paid nothing to prep samples for fit meetings, create product code and conduct other valuable services for the fashion house, was recently settled for $323,000. Yet, most of the interns will only see a thread of the settlement money, namely $305, because their lawyers' take is $108,000. Only Nadine Craparotta, who was awarded $7,500 as the lead plaintiff, might be able to afford one of Lauren’s signature $598 double-breasted wool blazers with her settlement money.

The interns’ attorneys claim the deal is “fair and reasonable”.

According to news reports, Tom Stebbins of the Lawsuit Reform Alliance said the case showed “how broken the class-action system is because you have people who actually were not paid money getting pennies on the dollar while lawyers are walking away with over $100,000.”

—Source: nypost.com