Collecting Fees

How would you like to read this opening paragraph in the Court of Appeals decision vacating your fee award:

Lead Plaintiffs’ Counsel in this class action case persuaded the district court to divide up a $6.875 million lump sum attorneys’ fee award among more than six dozen Plaintiffs’ lawyers according to Lead Counsel’s proposed allocation. This might be permissible, except that the court was so persuaded in an ex parte hearing and apparently without benefit of supporting data. The court further accepted Lead Counsel’s proposed order sealing the individual awards; preventing all counsel from communicating with anyone about the awards; requiring releases from counsel who accepted payment; and limiting its own scope of review of objections to the allocation. These and other facets of the court’s process are unauthorized and objectionable. Pursuant to the appeal of attorneys who challenged their awards, we VACATE the order approving the allocation and REMAND

In re High Sulpher Content Gasoline Products Liability Litigation, Look Here (I borrowed this link from the Insurance Coverage Blog, I guess if it is not OK, I will hear about it.)

I am once again puzzled.

How can an intelligent lawyer possibly think that an ex parte hearing with a Federal Judge for the purpose of dividing the booty would ever pass muster and withstand scrutiny from the Fifth Circuit (especially the Fifth Circuit).

How could an intelligent Federal District Court Judge possbily be persuaded that this was an accepatable mechanism to hear a fee application.

Perhaps the operative word is intelligent.

As ever, Always Annoyed.