Class Actions: Pro Bono Settlement Fees/Costs Up To $750,000 In Food Stamp Processing Class Action

O’Melveny and Western Center on Law & Poverty Reap Award, With O’Melveny Donating a Portion to Non-Profit Causes.

     O’Melveny & Myers LLP and the Western Center on Law & Poverty teamed up to prosecute a class action against Orange County’s Social Services Agency with respect to more expeditious processing and approval of food stamp applications.

First food stamp. Washington, D.C., April 20. The first of the new surplus food stamps came of the presses at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing today. Latest of the administration's plans to reduce the farm surplus, the stamps, of yellow and blue, will be issued to persons on relief who in turn can trade each $1.00 stamp for food worth $1.50. Rochester, New York, will be one of the first half dozen cities to try the new stamp plan

     Above:  First Food Stamp.  1939.  Library of Congress.

     In Blackstar v. Orange County, which was assigned to US. District Court Judge Dale S. Fischer, preliminary settlement approval was given to a consent decree establishing guidelines and deadlines with which the SSA must comply.

     The upside for the attorneys? The settlement provides for an award of attorney’s fees and costs of up to $750,000, with O’Melveny indicating it will donate a portion of its award to non-profit community services providers. Nice ending for a pro bono case with some challenging legal issues.

     For more on this story, see Teri Sforza’s June 9, 2010 post “Class action attorneys’ full statement on food stamp settlement,” available for reading online at The Orange County Register’s website.

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