Our good friends at the National Association of Legal Fee Analysis (NALFA), especially its executive director Terry Jesse, have some interesting recent posts that we synopsize for your reading enjoyment.
LCD Price-Fixing Class Action Likely Garners $308 Million In Fee Awards, Although There Is Some Inter-Plaintiff Counsel Squabbling.
In re TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litig. involved a $1.1 billion settlement in the LCD price-fixing class action, with U.S. District Judge Susan Ilston (N.D. Cal.) poised to approve $308 million in total fee awards to several firms, 28.5% of the settlement, although at least one firm is claiming its share was not enough.
Arkansas Judge Rules that Johnson & Johnson Should Pay $181 Million in Fees To Attorney General in Risperdal Medicaid Fraud Suit.
Pulaski County Judge Tim Fox of an Arkansas state court has ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $181 million in attorney’s fees in an Attorney General suit brought to redress Medicaid fraud in the marketing of the antipsychotic drug Risperdal, after a jury returned a $1.2 billion verdict against J & J.
Securities Class Action Fee Awards Are Down In Certain Settled Suits, But Up For $1 Billion-Plus Settlements.
NERA Economic Consulting has issued a recent report “Recent Trends in Securities Class Action Litigation: 2012 Full Year Review,” with some interesting results. Although settlements are up in these class actions, fee awards are down in federal court class actions for settlement recovery in the $100-500 million range–18.2% of any such settlements)–compared to 24.2% for the comparative 1996-2009 time frame. However, for settlements over $1 billion, the trend was the opposite: 12.6% of recovery was awarded in fees for 2010-2012 compared to 8.3% during 1996-2009.
Nortel Insolvency Bills For U.S./Canada Bankruptcies Are Now At $755 Million.
Nortel’s bondholders, pensioners, and other creditors have been engaged in expensive fights over the $9 billion left over from the piecemeal sale of the now-defunct company. The total tab for “worldwide professional fees” in insolvency proceedings pending in Canada and the U.S. since 2009 now are at $755 million, $630 million of it coming from Canadian and American attorneys. (Reminds us of one of the few bankruptcy jokes we have seen: "Due to the slumping economy, Six Flags is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Ironically, when they get to bankruptcy court, they’ll have to wait in a line a mile long for two hours only to realize later that this ride really isn’t all that great.")
Contingency Fee Lawyers Do Screen Their Cases And Contingency Rates Do Vary.
Last but not least, NYU Law School’s The Center for Justice and Democracy has published a recent study, “Courthouse Cornerstone: Contingency Fees and Their Importance for Everyday Americans,” which has some statistics which debunk some of the pernicious myths about contingency attorneys (abuses notwithstanding in some situations). Among other things, it tends to show that most contingency lawyers carefully screen potential cases, passing on as many cases as they accept. An ABA study showed even less of a “screening rate”: lawyers signed on average only 25% of their callers. Finally, contingency fee rates are indeed variant, with a significant portion of cases bearing less than the famous 33% rate which is bandied around in the press and common lore.