22 thoughts on “January 16, 2017: Sick of Moving”

      1. I love class action suits.

        The Court will also consider at the final approval hearing the request of class counsel for an award of attorney’s fees, not to
        exceed one third of the settlement funds or $17,333,333 plus accrued interest; the request of class counsel for reimbursement
        of costs and expenses incurred in pursuing this lawsuit, not to exceed $2,400,000; a request for service awards to each
        named class representative not to exceed $5,000 per named individual and a total of $90,000; and the Court’s approval to
        pay the costs of settlement administration, not to exceed $2,000,000.00, to the third party settlement administrators. These
        amounts, if awarded, will be deducted from the settlement fund.

        I mean, yea, I get the incentives. Without the ability to compensate the legal team, lawyers would be unwilling to pursue these actions. And without the threat of class actions, many commercial or industrial behaviors that cause small harms to many people would go unopposed. But still. $90k for individual service awards, vs $21.7 million for legal fees and settlement administration???

        (from the Notice of Settlement)

        1. Is the objection that the attorneys fees are too high, or that the individual awards are too low?

          1. $90,000 total for awards to members of the class. $21.7 million for legal fees and administrative fees. What do you think?

            I'm not sure how that math works out, however, if the attorney's fees of $17.3 million (plus interest) isn't supposed to exceed 1/3 of the total settlement funds. Am I not understanding the meaning of "service awards to each named class representative"?

            1. Yes, you are misunderstanding. If the $90,000 is for "service awards to each named class representative" then that means that amount will be divided among the people whose names are on the suit. The fact that 1/3rd of the settlement amount is $17.3 million would imply that the total settlement is $51.9 million. Take that 51.9, subtract the 21.7 in legal and admin, then the 90,000 in named plaintiffs, and then divide the rest among each class member.

              1. thanks. It did not make sense, and I didn't spend the time to read the entirety of the Notice of Settlement.

                1. Sorry for the terse opening line in the previous LTE. It is common for the named plaintiffs to get more for their trouble, since they usually do more (testimony, affidavits, etc.).

        1. Wait! I never took on D.C. residency... I lived there as a resident, but since I was in school I didn't update my residence until I moved to VA.

    1. We submitted ours already. I expect I'll be able to quit my job and live off milk money for the rest of my days.

Comments are closed.