A recent Law 360 story by Nadia Dreid, “Attys Seek $34M From Lithium Battery Price-Fixing Deals,” reports that attorneys who worked out more than $113 million in settlements on behalf of buyers accusing a slew of battery makers of conspiring to fix the price of lithium-ion batteries are asking a California federal judge to allow them to pocket $34 million for their trouble. 

Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP and Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy LLP are serving as co-lead counsel to the indirect purchasers and plan to split the bounty.  They argued that the 30% fee was par for the course for similar big-name antitrust class actions, including a deal with the direct purchasers of the same MDL.

“The requested 30 percent fee award is reasonable compared to awards in similar antitrust class actions,” the battery buyers said.  “For example, last year this court approved a 30-percent fee award to counsel for direct purchaser plaintiffs in this action.  The firms also requested nearly $5.9 million in reimbursement for expenses.

The settled suits are part of sprawling multidistrict litigation that was formed in 2013 to combine suits accusing battery sellers of working together to hike prices for lithium-ion batteries — which are used primarily in computers and other electronics — from 2000 to 2011.  Hitachi Maxell Ltd., Sony Corp., LG Chem America, Toshiba Corp. and NEC Corp. were among the accused battery makers.

The firms managed to recover 11.7% of the damages they originally sought through three settlements, which is considered to be an “exceptional result.”  Samsung SDI Co. agreed to the biggest payout at $39.5 million, but LG Chem followed close behind with a deal for $39 million.  Sony will pay $19.5 million under the deal, with five other companies also agreeing to settlements in the low millions.

The case is In re: Lithium Ion Batteries Antitrust Litigation, case number 4:13-md-02420, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.