BCBSM, Inc. v. Vyera Pharmaceuticals, LLC
- Denise Cote
- 1:21-cv-01884
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
BCBSM v. Vyera: Judge Cote granted counsel’s fee, expense-reimbursement, and incentive-award motion in the class action.
Lead counsel received $4,890,009 in attorneys’ fees and $294,055 in expense reimbursement; BCBSM, Inc. received a $50,000 incentive award; and the settlement fund may be used for specified future fees and settlement-related costs.
What happened
In BCBSM, Inc. v. Vyera Pharmaceuticals, LLC, the court considered lead counsel’s request for attorneys’ fees, reimbursement of litigation expenses, and an incentive award for BCBSM, Inc., the class plaintiff. The opinion states that the request was unopposed.
The court granted the motion. It awarded lead counsel $4,890,009 in attorneys’ fees from the class settlement fund, approved $294,055 for litigation expenses, and awarded BCBSM, Inc. $50,000 for the time and resources it devoted to the case. Counsel may also request up to 10% of any additional settlement payments received in the future.
Judge Denise L. Cote also reserved jurisdiction over future fee requests and allowed lead counsel to continue paying actual notice, settlement-administration, and tax costs from the settlement fund without another court order.
The detailed version
- BCBSM, Inc. v. Vyera Pharmaceuticals, LLC · No. 1:21-cv-01884
- Denise Cote
- June 17, 2022
Background
BCBSM, Inc., doing business as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, brought this class action on behalf of itself and similarly situated parties against Vyera Pharmaceuticals, LLC, Phoenixus AG, Martin Shkreli, and Kevin Mulleady. The order addresses lead counsel’s motion for attorneys’ fees, reimbursement of litigation expenses, and an incentive award for BCBSM, Inc. The court held a fairness hearing on June 17, 2022, and stated that the motion was unopposed.
Rulings
The court granted the motion as follows:
- Attorneys’ fees: After considering the six factors identified in Goldberger v. Integrated Resources, Inc., the court found lead counsel’s request for fees reasonable and awarded $4,890,009 from the class settlement fund. The order describes this as 25% of the $7,560,000 paid into the fund to date. - Future fees: If additional contingent settlement payments are made to the fund, lead counsel may request additional fees of up to 10% of those additional payments. The court reserved exclusive jurisdiction over future fee requests. - Litigation expenses: The court granted reimbursement of $294,055 from the fund, consisting of $241,553 in incurred out-of-pocket expenses and $52,500 in anticipated future expenses. - Other fund costs: Under the settlement agreement and an earlier court order, lead counsel may continue paying the actual costs of notice, settlement administration, and taxes from the fund without further court approval. - Incentive award: The court granted BCBSM, Inc. a $50,000 incentive award in recognition of the time and resources it devoted to the case on behalf of the settlement class. The award is to be paid from the class settlement fund.
Effect of the Order
This was an award of attorneys’ fees, litigation expenses, and an incentive payment connected to the class settlement. It did not decide the underlying claims against the defendants in this order. Judge Denise L. Cote entered the order granting the motion.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.