Split Among Circuits At Issue On Class Counsel Fee Valuation Issue.
In Blackman v. Gascho, 822 F.3d 269 (6th Cir. 2016), a 2-1 panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals parted company with other federal circuits in awarding class counsel $2.4 million in attorney’s fees even though only $1.6 million in actual claims were made (versus a hypothetical class action value of $15.5 million if all class members made claims). Blackman diverged from the results in other circuits which have looked at the actual value received from a “claims made” class action settlement, principally Circuit Judge Posner’s decision in Pearson v. NBTY, Inc., 772 F.3d 778, 782 (7th Cir. 2014), rather than the hypothetical maximum value of a class action case.
A certiorari petition was filed in Blackman on September 19, 2016 (U.S. Supreme Court No. 16-364), noted by SCOTUS.blog as being one of the recent pending petitions to keep an eye on. We will.