Award Was 25% Of Settlement Fund, Cross-Checked By Lodestar Totaling Ultimate Award.
In re Google Referrer Header Privacy Litig., No. 15-15858 (9th Cir. Aug. 22, 2017) (published) is a case involving approval of a class action settlement involving a cy-press only settlement with respect to Internet privacy claims. There was a $8.5 million settlement fund, with $3.2 million set aside for attorney’s fees, administration costs, and incentive payments and with the remaining $5.3 million or so allocated to six cy pres recipients (certain organizations, law school divisions, and forums) given that each class member would only receive 4 cents (which made distributions unrealistic). This case has a good discussion of cy pres-only settlements and whether the recipients’ connections with class counsel were disqualifying in nature (producing a 2-1 panel split). However, over challenges by objectors, all three circuit judges agreed that the $2.125 million in awarded fees to class counsel was reasonable based on two factors: (1) the fees were 25% of the settlement fund, closely hewed to amounts awarded in similar Internet privacy actions; and (2) the fees were close to class counsel’s $2.126 million lodestar calculation.
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