Cases: Class Actions

In The News . . . . District Judge Awards Wage/Hour Class Counsel 25% Percentage Of Recovery As Attorney’s Fees

Cases: Class Actions, Cases: Multipliers, In The News

  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, […]

In The News . . . . Five Plaintiffs’ Firms Appeal District Judge’s Rejection Of Attorney’s Fees In Toyota Prius Headlights Class Action

Cases: Class Actions, In The News

       The Ninth Circuit in the Bluetooth decision (654 F.3d 935) reversed a prior attorney’s fees award to plaintiffs’ attorneys in a class action case, finding the district court failed to double check the lodestar amount against the percentage of recovery method. Bluetooth has been cited many times, and apparently played a big role

In The News . . . . First Circuit Court of Appeals Overturns $30 Million Attorney’s Fees Award In Volkswagen Oil-Sludge Defect Case

Cases: Class Actions, In The News

  State Law, Not Federal Law, Should Have Governed Fee Inquiry.      The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed a Boston federal judge’s award of around $30 million in attorney’s fees to plaintiffs’ lawyers in multidistrict litigation over an alleged oil sludge defect in certain Volkswagen cars.      The basis for the

Class Actions/Special Fee Shifting Statute/In The News . . . . $1,468,380 In Attorney’s Fees Awarded Against Losing 14 Named Class Members In California Automobile Sales Finance Act Case

Cases: Class Actions, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes, In The News

       Here is an interesting one you do not see too often–named class members having to pay attorney’s fees to the winning defendant.      On May 9, 2012, MMD Newswire posted that Raceway Ford, Inc. was awarded $1,468,380 in attorney’s fees plus costs as against 14 named class members, jointly and severally, in an

Allocation/Class Actions/Common Fund/Private Attorney General/Paralegal Time: Court Of Appeal Finds Plaintiffs/Defendant Allocation Of Attorney’s Fees In Common Fund Case Was Fair, But Reverses Refusal To Award For Certain Attorney/Paralegal Time

Cases: Class Actions, Cases: Common Fund, Cases: Paralegal Time, Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5)

  Remand to Determine What Portion of Attorney and Paralegal Time Was “Administrative” in Nature.      Collins v. City of Los Angeles, Case No. B228882 (2d Dist., Div. 3 Apr. 20, 2012) (certified for publication) is a class action case where two class representatives on behalf of a class obtained a judgment-based common fund recovery

Class Actions/In The News: Prof. Fitzpatrick, At A Recent Washington, D.C. Panel Seminar, Contends That Class Action Lawyers Get “A Bad Rap” On Fee Awards

Cases: Class Actions, In The News

  He Has Empirical Evidence to Support His Position.      In Washington, D.C., there was an interesting recent panel discussion at the National Lawyers Convention of the Federalist Society, discussing whether attorney’s fees in class actions are too low, too high, or just right. Some panelists cited class action abuses, but an unlikely panelist for

Class Actions: Legislation Pending For Governor Approval Would Allow Trial Courts Discretion To Award Attorney’s Fees To Successful Class Action Settlement Objectors

Cases: Class Actions, Legislation

  Bill Would Abrogate Flemming v. Barnwell Nursing Decision.      In our October 22, 2010 post, we reported on the New York Court of Appeals’ decision in Flemming v. Barnwell Nursing, which denied awarding attorney’s fees to a class action settlement objector whose efforts helped reduce requested class counsel fees of $448,000 down to $425,000

In the News: In the Headlights – Judge Shines Real Bright Light on Attorney’s Fees Issue in Toyota Prius Class Actions.

Cases: Class Actions, In The News

District Court Judge Manuel Real Has “Big Problem” with Estimated Fees of $4.7 M.      Writing in the August 29, 2011 online edition of The National Law Journal, Amanda Bronstad reports U.S. District Judge Manuel Real “put the brakes” on a $4.7 M fee request for plaintiffs’ firms in class action litigation.  The litigation concerns

In the News: (1) 9th Circuit Reverses and Remands Class Action Settlement and (2) MGA Turns on Its Lawyers

Cases: Class Actions, In The News

Fees in Bluetooth Class Action Settlement Must Be Scrutinized More Closely.      Under the heading, “9th Circuit tosses Bluetooth settlement, citing attorney fees,” Amanda Bronstad, writing in the August 22, 2011 online edition of The National Law Journal, reports on the reversal and remand of a district court’s approval of a settlement providing for $100,000

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