Contant v. Bank Of America Corporation
- Lorna Schofield
- 1:17-cv-03139
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Contant v. Bank of America, Judge Schofield approved administration payments and a cy pres distribution but denied a supplemental attorneys’ fee award.
The order affected authorized settlement claimants, class counsel, Kroll Settlement Administration LLC, applEcon, and The Legal Aid Society. It approved specified payments and directed any remaining settlement funds to The Legal Aid Society after the other approved payments are made.
What happened
In Contant v. Bank of America Corporation, settlement funds remained after payments were sent to authorized claimants, including money from uncashed checks and funds held in reserve. The opinion says the court had previously approved distribution of the settlement funds after an appeal involving AMA Capital Management LLC was resolved.
The court approved payments of $60,755.01 and $2,000 to Kroll Settlement Administration LLC, $39,860.67 to applEcon, and $6,083.55 in expenses plus $50,000 for taxes advanced by class counsel. The court also approved distributing any remaining funds to The Legal Aid Society after the other approved payments are made. The order denied class counsel’s requested supplemental attorneys’ fee award of $307,564.25.
Judge Lorna Schofield signed the October 8, 2024, order. Before making the remaining-funds distribution, class counsel must provide an accounting, identify the amount and source of the funds, and explain why distributing that amount to class members is impracticable.
The detailed version
- Contant v. Bank Of America Corporation · No. 1:17-cv-03139
- Lorna Schofield
- Oct. 8, 2024
Background
The plaintiffs had obtained approval to distribute net settlement funds to authorized claimants. Distribution was delayed while AMA Capital Management LLC appealed the denial of part of its claim for lack of supporting evidence and the denial of its request to intervene. The Court of Appeals affirmed this Court’s orders, and the case returned to the District Court.
The District Court later approved a proportional distribution to authorized claimants. Distribution checks were issued beginning January 24, 2024, and mailing was completed by February 6, 2024. Funds remained in the settlement administrator’s account because some checks were not cashed despite repeated efforts to reissue them. Additional unused funds remained in a settlement-fund account because they had been reserved for possible future events.
Rulings
The court approved the following payments:
- $60,755.01 to Kroll Settlement Administration LLC for settlement administration; - $2,000 to Kroll to complete settlement administration; - $39,860.67 to applEcon; - $6,083.55 to class counsel for expenses; and - $50,000 to class counsel for money advanced to pay taxes.
The court denied class counsel’s request for a supplemental attorneys’ fee award of $307,564.25. The order states that the earlier fee award was based mainly on the settlement-fund amount and the factors identified in Goldberger, rather than on the amount of time multiplied by hourly rates (the “lodestar” method).
The order also approved a distribution of all funds remaining after the other court-approved payments to The Legal Aid Society. This type of distribution, commonly called a cy pres distribution, sends leftover settlement money to an organization when distributing it to class members is impracticable. Before that distribution occurs, class counsel must file a letter with an accounting showing how the settlement funds were distributed, the proposed amount and source of any cy pres funds, and why distributing those funds to class members is impracticable.
Disposition
The order approved the specified settlement-administration payments, expenses, tax advance, and remaining-funds distribution, but denied the supplemental attorneys’ fee award.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.