Class Action Attorney Fee Applications Under Closer Scrutiny

April 22, 2015  |  New York Law Journal

In this article, we discuss two recent decisions by U.S. Southern District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan commenting on the lack of effective adversarial testing of proposed fee applications following securities class action settlements, and stressing the fiduciary obligation of the court to exercise stewardship over settlement funds in that circumstance. Judge Kaplan’s thoughtful approach to the fee awards in these two decisions is likely to influence other judges considering fee applications and may well reinforce the trend of shrinking fee awards, that Judge Kaplan himself noted.

Download File (pdf | 231.80 KB)