Nancy Rosenstengel, during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee to be U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Illinois. January 8, 2013. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM'Structural and Procedural Flaws' Foul Up Fees in Syngenta Settlement
More than $440 million in common benefit fees have been allocated in a class action settlement with Syngenta, prompting multiple appeals, but a federal judge's order this month threw a big wrench in the process.
August 28, 2019 at 07:55 PM
7 minute read
Judges in three states have divvied up more than $440 million in attorney fees so far in the litigation over Syngenta's genetically modified corn, but their orders have prompted multiple appeals and an unusual rebuke from the bench.
U.S. District Judge John Lungstrum of the District of Kansas, who is overseeing the multidistrict litigation against Syngenta, granted $503 million in common benefit fees last year as part of a $1.5 billion class action settlement. He divided the fees into four pools, three of which focused on cases in specific venues: Kansas, Minnesota and Illinois. Lungstrum allocated nearly $247 million in fees to 59 firms handling the multidistrict litigation in Kansas but allowed judges in Minnesota and Illinois to decide which firms got how much in their own venues.
On Aug. 19, Chief U.S. District Judge Nancy Rosenstengel of the Southern District of Illinois, doled out more than $78 million for law firms in the Illinois cases but criticized the report and recommendation of special master Daniel Stack, whom she appointed in the case, as having "structural and procedural flaws."
"Ultimately, the report and recommendation fails to carefully evaluate the benefit of the work behind the hours, which dilutes the contributions of some applicants while significantly inflating the value of others," she wrote.
In a footnote, she also described as "highly inappropriate" a declaration from retired U.S. District Judge David Herndon of the Southern District of Illinois, who previously oversaw the Syngenta litigation, supporting Stack's "totally unprecedented methodology."
Paul Flowers of Paul W. Flowers Co. Cleveland, representing Anderson Law Offices, said Stack's methods were similar in the mesh case.
"It's all very concerning because he did the exact same thing in the TVM case: giving up on all the time data and hourly rates and multipliers and using a percentage approach where numbers are assigned based on what the committee thinks everybody deserves," he said. "And there's no way to double check that or confirm it."
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
'Ill-Gotten Gains'?: Cadwalader Alleges Beef Price-Fixing Conspiracy Hurts McDonald's
2 minute read
'Climate-Smart Beef'?: DC Lawsuit Accuses Tyson Foods of False Advertising
3 minute read
'Anticompetitive Scheme?': Tyson Foods Faces Missouri Antitrust Class Action in Chicken Plant Dispute
3 minute read
DC Circuit Nixes $1M Amazon Fine After Denying Federal Agency 'Chevron' Deference
3 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Gibson Dunn Sued By Crypto Client After Lateral Hire Causes Conflict of Interest
- 2Trump's Solicitor General Expected to 'Flip' Prelogar's Positions at Supreme Court
- 3Pharmacy Lawyers See Promise in NY Regulator's Curbs on PBM Industry
- 4Outgoing USPTO Director Kathi Vidal: ‘We All Want the Country to Be in a Better Place’
- 5Supreme Court Will Review Constitutionality Of FCC's Universal Service Fund
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
