Cases: Class Actions

Class Actions: Class Counsel Awarded About $146.8 Million In Attorney’s Fees In Privacy Action Where A Jury Awarded $425 Million To The Certified Class

Cases: Class Actions

Lodestar Was Almost 50,000 Hours At A Blended Hourly Rate Of $1,143, Enhanced By A 2.59 Positive Multiplier. Rodriguez v. Google, LLC, No. 20-cv-04688-RS (N.D. Cal.) was a class action brought on behalf of 98 million people alleging that Google unlawfully collected user data from non-Google apps even when users disabled the settings, based on […]

Class Actions, Lodestar, Reasonableness Of Fees: $2.274 Million Fee Award To Class Counsel, Where The Case Settled For $575,000, Was No Abuse Of Discretion

Cases: Class Actions, Cases: Lodestar, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

Plaintiffs Had Asked For About $7.465 Million Inclusive Of A 2.0 Positive Multiplier, With The Appellate Court Rebuffing That Any Further Reduction Was Justified. Defendant reached a settlement with plaintiffs in a class action case in Davis v. AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Case No. B348322 (2d Dist., Div. 4 June 1, 2026) (unpublished) for $575,000, although

Appealability, Class Actions: Order Denying A Plaintiff’s Request To Be Exempt From Coordinated Proceeding Common Benefit Surcharge By Other Attorneys Is Affirmed On Appeal

Cases: Appealability, Cases: Class Actions

Appellate Court Determines It Is Appealable Under The Collateral Order Doctrine, But Appellant Still Loses On The Merits. In Pruchnik v. JCCP464 Common Benefit Comm., Case No. B330338 (2d Dist., Div. 7 Nov. 17, 2025) (published), plaintiff, in a coordinated proceeding involving Toyota unintended acceleration cases with relates issues, settled his case but brought a

Class Actions: 2025 Carlton Fields Class Action Survey Recently Issued

Cases: Class Actions

Survey Shows Increases In Class Action Case Numbers, Corporate Litigation Budgets Spent On Class Actions, And In-House Counsel Time Spent On Them, With Labor/Employment And Consumer Fraud Actions Leading The Class Action Pack.                The 2025 Carlton Fields Class Action Survey, which is publicly available, has just been issued.  It has interesting trends for class

Class Actions, Employment, POOF!: Reversal Of Class Action Summary Adjudication On Class Meal/Rest Breaks Claim Meant Substantial Fee Award Reversed Also

Cases: Class Actions, Cases: Employment, Cases: POOF!

Plaintiffs’ Reasons To Not Reverse The Award Were Unpersuasive.                Acting Presiding Justice Segal, author on behalf of the 2/7 DCA in Benton v. Telecom Network Specialists, Inc., Case No. B318867 (2d Dist., Div. 7 Aug. 19, 2024), confronted a very spirited opposition by plaintiffs/class winning substantial fees for why the reviewing court should not

Class Actions, Multipliers, Private Attorney General, Reasonableness Of Fees: $1.174 Million Award To Class Counsel In Fair Debt Collection Practices Case Affirmed On Appeal

Cases: Class Actions, Cases: Multipliers, Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5), Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

Significant Benefit Incurred, If Injunctive Relief Was Considered, And Other Objections Were Not Specific To Justify Any Reduction.                In Doskocz v. ALLS Lien Services, Case No. A166299 (1st Dist., Div. 1 May 20, 2024) (partially published; fee discussion unpublished), class counsel prevailed on behalf of plaintiffs in case involving some novel and complex issues

Class Action, Intellectual Property: $1.7 Million Fee Award To Class Counsel In A Case Netting $52,841.05 In Benefits, With No Meaningful Injunctive/Monetary Relief, Reversed And Remanded

Cases: Class Actions, Cases: Intellectual Property

True Benefit To The Class And Proportionality Of Fees Had To Be Scrutinized On Remand.             The beginning paragraph in Lowery v. Rhapsody International, Inc., Case No. 22-15162 (9th Cir. June 7, 2023) (published) is a doozy:             “This case will likely make the average person shake her head in disbelief: the plaintiffs’ lawyers filed

Class Actions: Federal Circuit Reverses $185 Million Class Counsel Award Because Claims Court’s Analysis Was Inconsistent With Class Opt-In Notice Terms And Did Not Justify A High 18-19 Positive Multiplier On The Lodestar

Cases: Class Actions

Fee Award Arose Out Of A $3.7 Billion Common-Fund Recovery In A Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act And Health Care And Education Reconciliation Act (ACA) Class Action.             With some strong language indicating that lower federal courts must acts as fiduciaries when it comes to scrutinizing fee applications in common-fund class action situations, the

Class Action: Uber Class Action Settlement Challenges Were Not Sustained On Appeal

Cases: Class Actions

Main Reason Was That The Settlement Was Not A “Coupon” Settlement.             The Ninth Circuit, in McKnight v. Hinojosa (Uber Technologies, Inc.), Case Nos. 21-16623 et al. (9th Cir. Nov. 30, 2022) (published), affirmed a class action settlement against Uber over certain objectors’ challenges.              The district court approved a class action settlement, after concluding

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