For the class and plaintiffs' counsel, sometimes even the settlement of a securities class action can fall squarely into the "total consciousness" category we've tracked here for years now. 

The recently settled U.S. Liquids Securities Litigation, for instance, provides a tiny settlement fund of $600,000 (the company's bankruptcy and a lack of D&O coverage or other significant assets for the remaining defendants understandably appear to have put quite a damper on the case).  The Settlement Notice for the case, however, clarifies that neither the class nor plaintiffs' counsel will receive any of the $600,000.  Rather, the $600,000 "will be paid to the Sierra Club of Texas or other similar environmentally conscious organization...."

So the final scorecard in this case that has been actively litigated since August 1999:

Sierra Club--
   Cash: $600,000
  Non-cash: $0

Class members--
   Cash: $0
   Non-cash: Total consciousness on death bed

Plaintiffs' counsel--
   Cash: $0
   Non-cash: Total consciousness on death bed

As shareholder Carl Spackler might have put it:

So we settle the case after 7 years of litigation, and the court is going to stiff me!  And I say, hey!  Judge!  Hey! How about a little something, you know, for the effort? You know.  And he says oh, uh, there won't be any money for you or for plaintiffs' counsel, and the $600,000 settlement will be given to the Sierra Club as a donation.  But when you die--on your death bed--you will receive total consciousness.