FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington, DC (August 30, 2023) – The Seventh Circuit agreed with the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute on Wednesday, vacating a $57 million attorneys’ fee award in the Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation. HLLI represents John Andren, one of its attorneys, who filed an objection to the fee request, which sought 33.3% of the gross recovery secured so far.
The underlying lawsuit alleges that the chicken meat industry acted as a cartel, which led to higher prices for consumers. Class attorneys sought one third of the gross recovery—$181 million so far—arguing that courts in the Seventh Circuit must employ a “market rate” approach to class action fees, which they equated with one third in antitrust cases.
Andren’s objection argued that market rate is much lower, as shown by two lines of evidence. First, the lead firms had bid for appointment in earlier antitrust cases, and that those bids included percentages that declined over brackets for very large recoveries. These bids would have led to a fee award perhaps half as large, which would return an additional $33 million to class members. Second, fee awards in the Ninth Circuit are typically less than 33% for large funds, and these awards could not be “below-market” because plaintiffs’ firms chose to frequently litigate in federal courts in California.
The district court overruled Andren’s objection, finding that evidence of bids in other antitrust cases were too remote and that Ninth Circuit awards were unpersuasive or even barred from consideration since the Ninth Circuit does not employ a “market approach.”
But Andren’s argument was vindicated by the Seventh Circuit. The panel found that the district court’s order “fell short,” vacating the award and remanding the case. It found that “the arrived-upon figure of one-third of the net settlement warrants greater explanation and consideration.” It agreed with Andren that bids in prior cases “reflect the price of co-class counsel’s legal services in antitrust litigation,” and that Ninth Circuit fee awards likewise suggest the market rate because of their “continued participation” in that market.
HLLI attorney Theodore H. Frank, who argued the case remarked “this is an important decision that should help consumers win more money from large settlements, where plaintiffs’ attorneys enjoy economies of scale.”
Frank has argued for the appellant in the Seventh Circuit in nine appeals related to class settlements, and his client has prevailed in all nine cases.
Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute is a nonprofit public interest law firm formed in 2019. HLLI challenges administrative and regulatory actions and abuses of the class action and civil justice system that exceed constitutional limits, promote rent-seeking, or otherwise improperly create deadweight loss; and challenges improper restrictions on speech and other actions beyond constitutional bounds. HLLI’s Center for Class Action Fairness has won hundreds of millions of dollars for consuners and shareholders and dozens of landmark appellate decisions. HLLI’s website is http://hlli.org.
Contact:
Ted Frank, 703-203-3848, ted.frank@hlli.org