18th Annual Workplace Class Action Report - 2022 Edition

Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report: 2022 Edition 469 Court found the hours to be unreasonable, and that many of the hours were attributable to litigation against Defendants other than New GM. Accordingly, the Court declined to credit 31.9 in attorney hours, leaving 14.7 attorney hours and 12 law clerk hours, which would yield a lodestar of $6,105. However, the Court determined that half of the lodestar amount was appropriate under the circumstances, and thereby it awarded Zonas $3,052.50. For these reasons, the Court granted in part the motion for attorneys’ fees and expenses. In Re General Motors LLC Ignition Switch Litigation , 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 95256 (S.D.N.Y. May 19, 2021). Plaintiffs in a multi-district class action sought to recover for economic losses allegedly sustained by owners of certain General Motors (“GM”) branded cars due to defects in the ignition switches. The underlying claims were settled and pursuant to case management orders, an attorneys’ fee distribution plan was established. Three firms objected to the plan on the grounds that the plan failed to credit the firms for hours of compensable work without any adequate explanation. The Court ordered the three lead-Plaintiffs’ firms to submit information detailing the criterial they used in determining how each firm would be compensated. The Court, however, approved the structure of the attorneys’ fee plan, which outlined a three-tier structure in distributing $34 million in fees and costs among 53 law firms involved in the litigation. The proposed structure for allocating the $24.6 million in attorneys’ fees provided each firm a percentage of its "adjusted reported lodestar" depending on the tier, including: (i) Tier 1 of the two Co-Lead Counsel firms; (ii) Tier 2 with members of the Executive Committee, Liaison Counsel, and Bankruptcy Counsel; and (iii) Tier 3 with all remaining counsel. Id . at *155. Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 firms collectively would be awarded $15,410,185.92, $8,920,490.47, and $254,595.67, respectively, or approximately 35% of the relevant lodestar for Tier 1; 19.3% for Tier 2, and approximately 7.85% for Tier 3. Id . at *155-56. The Court noted one exception of the firm Brown Rudnick, which would receive 23.362% of relevant lodestar, despite being a Tier 2 firm, given its "contribution” as lead bankruptcy counsel. Id. Based on its review of the tiers and the fee allocations, the Court found the tier-structure to be fair and adequate. However, the Court requested additional information from Plaintiffs’ counsel regarding the criteria used in establishing the distributions for each law firm. In Re NFL Players ’ Concussion Injury Litigation , 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7267 (E.D. Penn. Jan. 14, 2021). Plaintiffs, a group of former professional football players, brought a class action against the NFL for head injuries sustained while playing professional football. The parties subsequently settled the matter and the Court granted final settlement approval. Thereafter, former NFL player Billy Ray Smith Jr. ultimately received a $1.8 million settlement award from the settlement fund. Smith’s former law firm, Locks Law, filed a lien notice to collect attorneys’ fees for its work on Smith’s case. Specifically, Locks Law sought payment of 20% of the fee award. Smith was initially awarded $1.4 million in 2018, and following a successful appeal, was awarded an additional $400,000 for a total of $1.8 million. The Court ordered that all counsel fees from Smith’s initial 2018 award be paid to Locks Law as the initial firm that represented Smith for which the award was issued. However, the Court also determined that as to the subsequently awarded $400,000, Smith’s new firm, Langfitt Garner, which consisted of the attorney and paralegal who represented him in the case at Locks Law, and subsequently left, was also entitled half of the attorneys’ fees awarded as part of the subsequent settlement payout. As a result, the Court granted the attorneys’ fee award to both firms. In Re Roundup Product Liability Litigation, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115521 (N.D. Cal. June 21, 2021). In this multi-district class action litigation regarding allegations of cancer development following the use of Defendants’ products, the parties reached a settlement designed to resolve all future claims. The settlement included claims either by Roundup users who have developed cancer but have not yet sued, or by Roundup users who have not yet developed cancer at all. Lead counsel requested as aa attorneys’ fee award, subject to a holdback percentage of 8.25% of the total amount of each recovery. Id . at *515. Lead counsel further requested that the holdback order apply so that anytime anyone anywhere in the country obtained a recovery from Defendant Monsanto based on their use of Roundup, Monsanto would hold back 8.25% of their total recovery and contribute it to a common benefit fund. Lead counsel also sought to tax MDL Plaintiffs’ recoveries; recoveries of state court Plaintiffs, and recoveries of people who settled with Monsanto before filing any lawsuit at all. The Court granted in part and denied in part lead counsel’s motion. The Court opined that the proposed request was overreaching. The Court explained that it lacked the power to order holdbacks from recoveries of people who were not Plaintiffs in the MDL. The Court further determined that based on its understanding of settlement amounts discussed in the filings in this case and in public reports, an 8% holdback would be more than