Attorney Fees Drop 80% Along With Exxon Award
Attorney fees were slashed by about 80 percent when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled yesterday that Exxon Mobil Corp. should pay no more than $507.5 million in punitive damages for the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Potential fees in the class action now stand at about $188 million based on the new award, which comes to $995 million when interest is added, the Am Law Daily reports.
A motion by the plaintiffs’ fee committee proposes giving 60 percent of attorney fees to 42 firms representing class plaintiffs. The firm that did the most work on the class action, Davis Wright Tremaine, stands to get the most at 17.6 percent, which amounts to no more than $28 million, the story says. The troubled class action law firm Milberg would get $7 million.
Faegre & Benson partner Brian O’Neill told the publication he estimates that Exxon has spent about $400 million defending the case.
