Appellate Division Held Objector Not Entitled to Fees.
Though we do not venture out of California often, we do report on an interesting case that was just argued in the class action area in front of the New York Court of Appeals (which, for those of you unfamiliar with the New York system, is the equivalent of California’s supreme court).
In Flemming v. Barnwell Nursing Home and Health Facilities, 56 A.D.3d 162 (2008) (N.Y. Ct. of Appeal No. 149), the intermediate appellate court prohibited a class member objector from recovering her attorney’s fees for successfully challenging (partially) an award of attorney’s fees to class counsel. The intermediate court could find no statute or contract allowing for such an award. On appeal to the higher New York court, objector’s attorney will argue that the common fund doctrine does prove a basis for recovery of fees—if it works for class counsel, it would also apply to objectors in the fee area. We shall have to wait and see on who prevails on this one.
For more on this case, see Joel Stashenko’s September 13, 2010 post at the New York Law Journal.
Hat Tip to appellate specialist Ben Shatz who let us know about this interesting case.