Law360’s K
atryna Perera covers the conclusion of the Stericycle litigation, where HLLI represented an objector who successfully won vacatur of an excessive $11.25 million fee award before the Seventh Circuit:
Law360 (January 30, 2023, 8:34 PM EST) — An Illinois federal judge on Monday awarded Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP $7.7 million in attorney fees for its work as lead counsel on a $45 million settlement between waste disposal company Stericycle and its shareholders after the Seventh Circuit vacated a previous award over a class member’s objections.
Bernstein Litowitz received an $11 million award in 2020, but class member Mark Petri appealed the 25% award, alleging that the firm had engaged in a pay-to-play scheme to charge higher lead counsel did very little work on the case since it did not go past the motion to dismiss stage.
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“By successfully litigating the attorneys’ fee award on appeal and then negotiating a 17.5% award on remand, Petri’s work yielded an approximately $3.3 million benefit for the class,” the order states.
In a statement to Law360 on Monday, Frank Bednarz of the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, counsel for Petri, said the reduced fee request was an excellent compromise for shareholders due to the uncertainty of further litigation.
“The Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute is proud of objector Mark Petri and our success in reversing the original excessive fee award,” Bednarz added.