Award Represented a 3.2 Multiplier.
In McKenzie v. Federal Express Corporation, U.S.D.C., C.D. Cal. Case No. CV 10-02420 GAF (PLAx) (Doc. No. 139 July 2, 2012), U.S. District Judge Gary Allen Feess (appropriate last name for this post) awarded plaintiffs’ class counsel $2,062,500 in attorney’s fees in a California Labor Code wage/hour case, which represented compliance with the Ninth Circuit’s 25% “benchmark”–25% of the Gross Settlement Amount This award represented a 3.2 positive multiplier, with District Judge Feess refusing to award 33% percentage of recovery, or class counsel’s $2.75 million fee request. Although finding class counsel obtained a positive recovery for the class, the litigation was not exceptional in nature so as to require a deviance from the 25% “benchmark.”
For those of you wanting to read the class action settlement approval/fee award opinion, you can access it on NALFA’s attorney’s fees blog. We “hat tip” NALFA for bringing this case to our attention.