$117.5M Yahoo Breach Settlement Was Reasonable, But Legal Work Was 'Not Novel,' Judge Koh Says
In her Tuesday order, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh signed off on the $117.5 million data breach settlement with Yahoo Inc. but slashed attorney fees by more than $7 million after concluding the deal was "unexceptional" and the legal work "not particularly novel."
July 22, 2020 at 07:09 PM
5 minute read
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh signed off on the $117.5 million data breach settlement with Yahoo Inc. on Tuesday, but she slashed attorney fees by more than $7 million after concluding the deal was "unexceptional" and the legal work "not particularly novel."
In her Tuesday order, amended on Wednesday, Koh found the settlement, which resolved the claims of an estimated class of 194 million Yahoo users, was reasonable, despite her assessment that she would have "expected a larger settlement."
Her biggest criticism, however, focused on the plaintiffs' request for $30 million in attorney fees, which she deemed "an unreasonable windfall to class counsel." She also questioned how difficult the Yahoo litigation really was, especially when compared to a $115 million data breach settlement with Anthem Inc., which she called "exceptional" when approving it in 2018.
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