Cases: Class Actions

  Seventh Circuit Disagrees With Contrary Conclusion By Ninth Circuit In In re HP Inkjet.     The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has authored an important opinion in the class action fee area.      In In re Southwest Airlines Voucher Litig., Nos. 13-3264 et al. (7th Cir. Aug. 20, 2015), the Seventh Circuit construed several […]

  600% Markups, However, Have Not Passed The Grade.      We can report that contract attorneys used by law firms have been treated as attorneys for lodestar purposes, subject to reasonable limitations. Two examples in class action cases suggest how they should be presented in order to be compensable in the lodestar analysis as fees

  N.D. Cal. District Court Approves $11.4 Million Fee Award In Optical Disk Drive Case.     In In re Optical Disk Drive Antitrust Litig., No. 3:10-md-02143-RS (N.D. Cal. July 24, 2015), U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg awarded $11.4 million in fees and $1.6 million in expenses in a price-fixing conspiracy class action which produced a

  4/3 DCA Decision Discussed Out-Of-State Counsel Denied Fee Recovery For Never Getting Pro Hac Vice Admittance.     On July 14, 2015, we posted on Golba v. Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc., Case No. G049611, a 4th Dist., Division 3 decision which was unpublished at the time.  It decided that out-of-state class counsel was properly denied

  $5.5 Million Side Deal, Done Without Court Approval, Derailed.     Judge Mary E. Wiss of the San Francisco County Superior Court, in a July 16, 2015 order in Lofton v. Wells Fargo Home Mortg., Case No. CGC-11-509502, derailed a $5.5 million “supplemental” fee arrangement between one class law firm, its clients, and Wells Fargo

  In-State Class Counsel Only Garner $11,000 In Fees/Costs Out Of $36,290.50 Lodestar.     Class counsel must have been disappointed when the trial court refused to award any fees/costs to out-of-state counsel never admitted pro hac vice in the case and awarded only $11,000 in fees/costs out of the requested $36,290.50 lodestar (nixing a multiplier

  In Doing So, He Reduces About $5 Million Of Class Counsel Request, But Invokes “Game Of Thrones” To Reject NCAA’s Argument That Only $8.5 Million Should Be Awarded.     A class of football and men’s basketball players won antitrust claims against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for use of their names, images, and

  “Clear Sailing” Provision Not Per Se Suspect.       Weight Loss. Father reduces his weight.  Arthur Burdett Frost, 1914.  Library of Congress.      In Anaya v. QuickTrim, LLC, Case No. D067432 (4th Dist., Div. 1 July 2, 2015) (unpublished), a CLRA class action challenging product labeling and packaging for weight loss products was settled under

  Ninth Circuit Did Not Preclude Settlement Might Be Fair, But Value And Due Process Concerns Triggered A “Relook.”      The Ninth Circuit, in Bedolla v. Labor Ready Southwest, Inc., Nos. 13-5506 et al. (9th Cir. June 2, 2015) (published), denied an objector’s related motion to intervene (four years into the litigation) but did reverse