Judge Hits ‘Remora’ Lawyers, ‘Emphatically’ Turns Down Fee Request
A federal judge in Minneapolis didn’t hide his disdain when he turned down a request for $225,000 in attorney fees by lawyers representing objectors in a class action settlement.
The lawyers had argued against payment of $110 million in attorney fees as part of a settlement in shareholder litigation against UnitedHealth Group. U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum lopped off some $42 million in attorney fees for class counsel, but said the objectors’ lawyers had nothing to do with his decision, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports.
“The remoras are loose again,” Rosenbaum wrote, referring to a type of suckerfish that attaches to other marine animals. The motion by objectors’ counsel—Edward Siegel, Edward Cochran, Stuart Yoes, and Scott Browne—“is emphatically denied,” he wrote.
“They have the temerity to suggest they are the ones who saved the class $45 million in attorney fees, entitling them to a six-figure fee of their own,” Rosenbaum wrote. “Their suggestion is laughable. …
“Their goal was, and is, to hijack as many dollars for themselves as they can wrest from a negotiated settlement. Objectors’ eight-page-long, two-week-late pleading presented no facts, offered no law, and raised no argument upon which the court relied in its deliberation or ruling concerning class counsel’s motion for fees. … Objectors’ counsel are entitled to an award equal to their contribution … nothing.”
Three of the lawyers did not immediately return Law Blog’s calls, and a fourth refused to comment.
