A recent Law 360 story by Dean Seal, “Rosen Law Gets $62.5M Award as Alibaba Deal Gets Final OK,” reports that a New York federal judge granted final approval to a $250 million settlement that resolves securities claims against Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and provides class counsel, The Rosen Law Firm PA, with $62.5 million in fees.  U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon found that a 25% cut of the settlement was reasonable for the firm that spent years representing investors who claimed Alibaba misled them ahead of its $25 billion initial public offering, noting that the firm "undertook a complex, expensive and likely lengthy litigation with no guarantee of compensation."

"Plaintiffs' counsel received no compensation for more than four years of litigation and advanced nearly $4 million in expenses that might never have been recovered," Judge McMahon said.  "The court finds that the contingency risk in this case supports the requested award."

The judge also granted the class attorneys' request for almost $4 million in expenses and $12,500 for each of the five class representatives.  The order closes the book on a securities class action that claimed Alibaba concealed a July 2014 closed-door meeting with China's commerce regulator, the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, or SAIC, during which the agency allegedly ordered the Chinese e-commerce giant to stop illegal business practices, including the sale of counterfeit goods.

A separate objection to the 25% fee award sought by the class counsel was based on a "benchmark" theory that would provide class counsel with "an improper windfall," Judge McMahon said, calling the objection "flatly wrong."  "The 25% fee was deemed reasonable upon 'scrutiny of the unique circumstances of [this] case,'" she said.

Calling the settlement the "largest ever against a Chinese company" that represents between 17% and 20% of the maximum recoverable damages in the case, Judge McMahon praised the quality of representation for both the investors and Alibaba in handling a case of "unquestionable" magnitude.  Considering the roughly 164,000 claims forms submitted thus far, relatively few opt-outs and only one objector who has not established his membership in the class, the reaction of the class strongly supports approval of the settlement, the judge concluded.