25% Percentage Of Recovery Too Rich For This Case, Plus District Judge Earlier Required More Detail On Expenses.
Federal district judges are the ultimate gatekeepers on class action settlements, making sure that any settlements are fair to the class and class counsel fees are reasonable in nature.
Fitbit was sued in a class action by investors alleging that it hid problems with its heart rate monitoring trackers. A $33 million settlement was reached, with class counsel requesting an attorney’s fees award of 25% (a percentage of recovery approach endorsed by the Ninth Circuit for the normal case) and reimbursement of $272,402 in expenses.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston of the Northern District of California earlier had ordered that class counsel provide more detail on expenses to make sure no filet mignon dinners or first-class plane travel was involved. Later, in an order issued May 3, 2018, she trimmed the $8.25 million request down to an award of $5.75 million, finding that the normal benchmark was too rich for this particular case. She obviously took her gatekeeping duties seriously.
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