Thompson v. American Limousine Group, LLC
- Cathy Seibel
- 7:19-cv-04133
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Thompson v. American Limousine Group, Judge Seibel granted class counsel’s fee-and-cost motion and approved service payments to named plaintiffs.
Class counsel, the class members whose settlement fund would pay the fees, costs, and service awards, and the named plaintiffs receiving the approved service payments.
What happened
In Thompson v. American Limousine Group, LLC, the plaintiffs asked the court to approve class counsel’s fees and expenses and service payments for the named plaintiffs. The court held a fairness hearing on May 13, 2022, and received no objections.
The court granted the motion, awarded class counsel $500,000 in attorneys’ fees, and awarded $10,715.50 for litigation expenses. It also approved service awards for the six named plaintiffs identified in the settlement agreement, without stating the amounts in this order. The fees, expenses, and service awards were to be paid from the settlement fund.
Judge Cathy Seibel found the requested fee reasonable under the standards governing class-action counsel and found the litigation expenses reasonable and necessary. The order also approved the service awards as fair and reasonable.
The detailed version
- Thompson v. American Limousine Group, LLC · No. 7:19-cv-04133
- Cathy Seibel
- May 13, 2022
Background
The plaintiffs moved for an order approving class counsel’s attorneys’ fees, litigation costs and expenses, and service payments to the named plaintiffs. The court held a fairness hearing on May 13, 2022. The order states that no objections were received to the requests.
Court’s Analysis
The court found that Blau Leonard Law Group, LLC, satisfied the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(g), which requires consideration of counsel’s work investigating potential claims, experience with class actions and other complex litigation, knowledge of the applicable law, and resources committed to representing the class. The court found that a fee equal to 31.34% of the maximum gross settlement fund was reasonable and consistent with class-action practice in the Southern District of New York.
The court also applied the factors identified in Goldberger v. Integrated Resources, Inc. and used the lodestar method—the method of multiplying reasonable hours by reasonable hourly rates—as a cross-check. It found that the requested fee produced a reasonable multiplier, particularly because that multiplier would decrease as counsel spent additional time implementing the settlement over the next 42 months.
Disposition
The court granted the plaintiffs’ motion for attorneys’ fees and awarded class counsel $500,000. It also awarded $10,715.50 in reimbursement for litigation expenses, primarily mediator and bankruptcy-counsel fees, finding those expenses reasonable and incidental and necessary to representing the class. The fees, costs, and expenses were to be paid from the settlement fund and distributed pro rata under the Final Plan of Reorganization and the Addendum to the Final Settlement Agreement and Release.
The court approved as fair and reasonable the service awards to each of the six named plaintiffs as set forth in the Final Settlement Agreement. Those awards were also to be paid from the settlement fund and distributed pro rata under the same documents. The order does not state the amount of each service award.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.