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
Trial Court Cannot Double Count Contingent Risk in Both the Lodestar and Enhancement Analyses. In Braun v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 2011 Pa.Super. 121 (June 10, 2011) (per curiam), the Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed the major portions of $187.65 million judgment in a plaintiffs’ class action against Wal-Mart for certain state wage/hour violations. (This
BIG: Above: Elephant Calisthenics For those of you who are interested in the percentage of fee recoveries in mega-class action settlements, here is an excellent summary we share from National Association of Legal Fee Analysis’ (NALFA’s) June 22, 2011 post on its attorney’s fees website: LARGEST CLASS ACTION FEE AWARDS IN U.S. HISTORY Class
No Way, Said Appellate Court in Affirming Decision Interpreting Scope of Class Action Settlement. Here is a post on a case demonstrating that the trial court is the ultimate gatekeeper as far as determining that a class action settlement is fair, including the attorney’s fees award under a settlement. In In re
Ninth Circuit So Rules In Recent Decision. In Glasser v. Volkswagen of America, Inc., Case No. 09-56618 (9th Cir. May 17, 2011) (for publication), VW settled with plaintiff in a class action after it consented to new disclosures relating to its smart-key replacement technology (but paid no money to the class), agreeing nevertheless
Setting Fees Under Wage/Hour Statutes Different From Collectibility of Fees, Remand to Award Fees Under Common Fund Doctrine With Directions. Barboza v. West Coast Digital GSM, Inc., Case No. B227692 (2d Dist., Div. 4 Mar. 24, 2011) (unpublished) has a tortured history, with this being the fourth appeal–with many of the past ones
Requested 2.0 Multiplier Scaled Back to 1.4. Just to show you how class action fee awards can often be larger than the damages awards in protracted, contentious cases, we now digest Alcoser v. Thomas, Case Nos. A124848 et al. (1st Dist., Div. 1 Feb. 16, 2011) (unpublished). There, a tenant successfully won
Concurrent Negotiation of Substantive Relief and Fees in Public Agency Cases Is Allowable. Adam W. Hofmann, an attorney in the San Francisco office of Hanson Bridgett, has written an article entitled “Negotiating Attorneys Fees” in the January 2011 edition of The California Lawyer. In it, he explains that California cases expressly reject any
Here is the second installment of our top 20 decisions. 10. Jankey v. Lee, 181 Cal.App.4th 1173 (1st Dist., Div. 4 2010), review granted, No. S180890 (May 12, 2010) — authored by Presiding Justice Ruvolo; discussed in our Feb. 6, 2010 post. Attorney’s fees are awardable to a prevailing defendant under Civil
Court Rules in 5 –2 Decision that 1975 Statutory Reforms to Class Actions in NY Allow Fees Only to Class Representative. This next one is a bit off our beat, since it involves NY law, but we think it will be of interest to class action attorneys. New York’s highest court has ruled, in
