Hi, Rob!

The coupon settlements are primarily what I'm talking about. The Rand Institute for Civil Justice published a comprehensive book-length study Class Action Dilemmas: Pursuing Public Goals for Private Gain, which examines whether or not class actions are worth their cost to society and to business.  I read the Executive Summary on their website and its basic conclusion was that reform should focus on settlement practices, which, as you pointed out, CAFA does address.

I think CAFA's main objective was to curtail the practice of "forum shopping" for plaintiff-friendly state courts.  Rand's study of state class action settlements found that attorney fees and administrative costs account for nearly half of most settlement awards.

The Institute for Legal Reform has chronicled numerous examples of abuses of the class-action system, which CAFA has attempted to address.