Plaintiff’s Counsel Failed To Demonstrate That It Conferred A Benefit On The Class Beyond The $158,446 In Incurred Fees For Some Authorized Document Review. Attorney fee awards in class actions are wholly contingent on achieving benefit for the class – a requirement applying to both lead and non-lead counsel, with each required to […]
Higher Fee Awards/Cost Award Remanded For Reconsideration. Class action attorneys, especially those representing the class, will want to read the Ninth Circuit’s opinion in In re Optical Disk Drive Products Antitrust Litig., Nos. 17-15065 et al. (9th Cir. May 15, 2020) (published). There, the Ninth Circuit remanded for reconsideration of some fee/costs awards to
However, Matter Was Remanded For Trial Judge To Consider Quantum Meruit Recovery. Hance v. Super Store Industries, Case No. F075852 (5th Dist. Jan. 23, 2020) (published) is a very scholarly opinion exploring an ethics issue. Briefly told, a plaintiff’s class action attorney was an experienced labor attorney, but he referred the matter to class
Reasonableness Of Fee Award Confirmed By Percentage Of Recovery Cross-Check, Where Ultimate Award Was Beyond 25% Benchmark. Class counsel in a consumer protection class action, which was settled, sought an unopposed $350,000 fee recovery. The district judge, after setting the reasonable hourly rate, then applied a 25% reduction to the lower lodestar determination based
Employer’s Failure To Include Premium Pay On Wage Statements For “On Duty” Meal And Rest Periods Did Not Trigger Penalties Because Premium Pay Is A Statutory Remedy For An Employer’s Conduct – Not An Amount “Earned” By The Employee. A certified class of former and current non-exempt employees brought a lawsuit against their
Has Implications For Fees, Given Statute And Equitable Principles Allowing For Fee Recovery. An article by Daniel S. Wittenberg, “Class Action Spending Reaches 10-Year High” in the Summer 2019 edition of the ABA’s Litigation News, provides some interesting insights into the class action cases which are prevalent and frequently expose defendants to attorney’s fees/costs
Ninth Circuit So Holds, Even Though There Does Seem To Be A Split Among Other District Courts. In Arias v. Residence Inn by Marriott, No. 19-55803 (9th Cir. Sept. 3, 2019) (published), defendant filed a notice of removal of a state court wage/hour class action case to federal court. It did so under the
2-1 Majority Also Found Denying Motion For Reconsideration Did Not Require A Different Result; Dissenting Circuit Judge Thought The 50% Reduction Was Too Much Without More Explanation, And The Unopposed Reconsideration Request Should Been Considered. Schwartz (Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP) v. Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc., et al., No. 18-55618 (9th Cir. Aug. 20, 2019)
Federal Appellate Court Provides Scholarly Analysis Of Differences Between Common Fund, Constructive Common Fund, And Contractual Fee-Shifting Cases. In In re: Home Depot Inc. Customer Data Security Litig., No. 17-14741 (11th Cir. July 25, 2019) (published), the Eleventh Circuit faced review of a $15.3 million fee award to class counsel in a class action
Multiplier Trends And Attorney “Make Work” Conclusion Are Among The Takeaways. Right around July 16, 2019, three law professors—Stephen J. Choi, Jessica Erickson and A.C. Pritchard–published a paper exploring fee recovery in federal securities cases involving big company defendants which result in mega-settlements. They surveyed 1,719 federal securities cases between 2005 and 2016. We
