This Amount Was Reduction From $20 Million In Fees Expended And A Slice From The EAJA Lodestar Of $4.515 Million.
Who says that class actions cannot have some happy endings in terms of the fee recoveries being reduced responsibly in public interest cases? The fee recovery result in Vietnam Veterans of America v. CIA, Case No. CV-09-0037-CW (N.D. Cal. Oct. 4, 2018 Order Approving Parties’ Stipulation On Fees) shows that this can occur where the parties are willing to engage realistically with each other.
The case was a class action on behalf of Vietnam veterans who served as human test subjects for government-conducted chemical and biological weapons experiments. Plaintiffs prevailed ultimately, with the Army ordered to provide notice and medical care treatment to class members. Plaintiffs were represented by the San Francisco powerhouse firm of Morrison & Foerster LLP.
Plaintiffs were entitled to fee recovery under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), but the hourly rates in such cases are much lower than MoFo’s published rates. However, the parties did something very smart here. They met and negotiated a lower fee recovery. MoFo had expended about $20 million in fees over nine years of contentious litigation, with the EAJA lodestar based on lower rates coming to $4.515 million.
However, the parties stipulated that the class would recover $3.4 million, with MoFo “writing off” the balance of actual fees expended. Needless to say, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken of the Northern District of California had no problem approving the stipulation and making it the order of the court.