District Court Judge Manuel Real Has “Big Problem” with Estimated Fees of $4.7 M.
Writing in the August 29, 2011 online edition of The National Law Journal, Amanda Bronstad reports U.S. District Judge Manuel Real “put the brakes” on a $4.7 M fee request for plaintiffs’ firms in class action litigation. The litigation concerns nearly 300,000 owners and lessees of Prius hybrids claiming headlights were defective because they intermittently shut off.
Toyota’s attorney, Michael Mallow, a partner with Loeb & Loeb, contends the fee request equals at least 101% of the settlement value, and that the work was inefficient.
As reported by Amanda Bronstad, plaintiffs’ attorneys argue a cross-check of the lodestar amount against an estimated percentage of the settlement is inappropriate, because this is not litigation in which a common fund is available. Also, plaintiffs’ attorneys argue that a comparison of work done by plaintiffs’ attorneys with the amount of work done by outside defense attorneys underestimates actual costs, because it excludes work done by Toyota’s in-house attorneys.
A fairness hearing has been rescheduled for October 17, 2011.
Will plaintiffs’ counsel avoid the clutches of defense arguments, or will counsel be ground up fine by the gears of justice? Will fees be stripped bare to the chassis? Stay tuned.