Cases: Class Actions

Reasonableness Of Fees 3-Fer: Fee Recovery Sustained In Landlord-Tenant, Family Law, And Appeal/Class Action Cases Based On Waiver, Failure To Provide Adequate Record, And Failure To Beat Abuse Of Discretion Standard On Amounts Awarded

Cases: Class Actions, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees, Cases: Record, Cases: Standard of Review

  Landlord/Tenant:  Sevier v. Ghannoura, Case No. B259542 (2d Dist., Div. 4 Mar. 22, 2016) (Unpublished).     Tenant won compensatory damages of $21,865 against landlords for illegal entry into common areas of a rental apartment without proper notice.  There was a fees clause, requiring mediation as a condition precedent, but tenant satisfied that by requesting […]

Class Action: Second Circuit Court Of Appeals Reverses And Remands Fee Denial To Non-Lead Counsel After Appointment Of Lead Class Counsel Where Lead Counsel Supported Non-Lead Counsel’s Request For Fee Recovery

Cases: Class Actions

  Over $3.4 Million in Fees At Stake.      Flanagan, Lieberman, Hoffman & Swaim v. Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (In re Bank of America Corp.), No. 13-2919 (2d Cir. Mar. 17, 2016) (published) involved a non-lead counsel in a federal class action securities case who failed to file a notice of appearance but did

In The News . . . . ADA Class Action Settlement With City Of Los Angeles Gains Preliminary Approval

Cases: Civil Rights, Cases: Class Actions, In The News

  $1.367 Million Expenditures Over Thirty Years On Public Areas, With $13.3 Million In Fees And $1.7 Million To Class Counsel.     On February 9, 2016, U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall of the Central District of California gave preliminary approval to a substantial American with Disabilities Act class action settlement by which the City

In The News . . . . Antitrust Class Action Attorneys Reap $38.2 Million In Cathode Ray Tube Litigation

Cases: Class Actions, In The News

  30% of Recovery Was Fair.       Based on general news reports, class action counsel in Cathode Ray Tube Antitrust Litig., No. 3:07-cv-05944 (N.D. Cal.) were awarded $38.2 million in attorney’s fees in settlement of an antitrust class action involving allegations of a price-fixing conspiracy for cathode ray tubes. The fee award was around 30%

Class Action: District Court’s 30% Reduction From Lodestar And 50% Cut From Requested Fees Remanded Where No Detailed Explanation For Cut Provided

Cases: Class Actions

  “Entirely Impressionistic Reasoning Offered By District Court” Did Not Suffice.     A securities class action litigated over 2 years and involving many defendants in China was globally settled for $3.78 million.  Class counsel then sought 25% of the common fund, or a fee award of $944,583.  The district judge, however, used the lodestar analysis—which

Class Action/Lodestar: N.D. Ill. District Judge Provides Some Nice Clues On What To Claim Under Lodestar Analysis In Class Action Fee Request

Cases: Class Actions, Cases: Lodestar

  Lodestar Was The Methodology In Statutory Fee-Shifting Matter.      Chief Judge Ruben Castillo of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, has provided a nice discussion and clues of what to include in a lodestar request in an attorney’s fees motion in a class action arising under a fee-shifting statute, namely, the Magnuson-Moss

In The News . . . . Class Counsel Garners $74 Million Fees/Costs In JP Morgan Chase Mortgage-Backed Securities Settlement And Eleventh Circuit Decision Holds Percentage-Of-Fund Analysis Applies To Claims-Made Class Action Settlement Regardless Of Actual P

Cases: Class Actions, Cases: Common Fund, In The News

  Class Counsel Asked For $100.8 Million In Fees/Expenses But Were Awarded “Only” $74 Million.     On December 4, 2015, a New York federal district judge awarded class counsel in the JP Morgan Chase mortgage-backed securities class action about $74 million in fees and costs based on a $388 million settlement.  This was less than

Class Action: N.D. California District Judge Denies Approval Of Nissan Braking Class Action Settlement Based Primarily On Huge Payout Of Funds To Class Counsel

Cases: Class Actions

Fees Too Disproportionate Where Class Counsel Would Obtain Fee Recovery Of $3.45 Million Versus $278,056 In Distributions To Class Members Based On Low Claim Submission Rate.     In Banks v. Nissan North America, Case No. 11-cv-2022-PJH (N.D. Cal. Doc. 203 Nov. 30, 2015), the parties had reached a tentative settlement in a class action involving

Class Action, Common Fund, and Lodestar: Court Of Appeal Affirms Judgment Awarding Plaintiffs’ Attorneys 37.5 Percent Of Settlement Fund

Cases: Class Actions, Cases: Common Fund, Cases: Lodestar

  High Percentage Of Common Fund That Is Much Lower Than Lodestar Is Reasonable Way To Calculate Fee Award In Class Action.      A fee award to plaintiffs’ attorneys of 37.5% of the settlement fund may seem generous.  Indeed, it seemed too generous to objectors in Roos v. Honeywell International and Rogers, A142156 (1/1 Nov.

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