The Cook County Record reported on the HLLI’s successful appeal in Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation, where on August 30, 2023, the Seventh Circuit vacated a $57 million fee award that HLLI argued greatly exceeded market approximating rates.
Scott Holland writes for Bloomberg Law:
A federal appeals panel has plucked, for now, a $57 million fee award given to the attorneys behind part of massive antitrust litigation accusing poultry producers of conspiring to control and inflate chicken prices.
The panel said a lower court judge failed to properly consider lesser amounts the plaintiffs’ lawyers have agreed to accept in class actions elsewhere, particularly in the West Coast states of the federal Ninth Circuit court.
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The panel vacated the award and remanded the request for legal fees, suggesting Durkin reappropriate the weight given to auction bids and Ninth Circuit litigation while also allowing him to re-evaluate Andren’s request to order additional discovery on the expert reports class counsel submitted to bolster their request.