A recent BLT Blog story, “Class Counsel Request $90.8M in Fees in Black Farmers Case” reports that the lawyers who represent a class of African American farmers in a suit against the government that claimed loan discrimination are demanding $90.8 million in legal fees, the maximum allowed under the terms of a settlement.  The three lead class attorneys in the case said in a fee petition (pdf) filed Monday in Washington federal district court that class counsel is entitled to 7.4% of the $1.25 billion settlement.  (The settlement base is about $1.22 billion after $22.5 million is taken for implementation costs.)

The settlement sets out a fee range of 4.1% to 7.4% of the $1.25 billion deal.  Lawyers representing claimants on a certain track are allowed, apart from the settlement, to negotiate a contingent fee arrangement of up to 8%.  The attorneys, Gregorio Francis of Morgan & Morgan, Andrew Marks of Crowell & Moring and Henry Sanders of Chestnut, Sanders, Sanders, Pettaway & Campbell, said lead class counsel will allocate the award among the dozens of lawyers who participated in the litigation.

The participation agreement (pdf) among the lawyers in the case includes a dispute resolution clause that will require disagreements about fee allocation to be submitted to binding arbitration.  The agreement said nine law firms are entitled to split 75% of any legal fee award.  The firms in Washington are: Crowell, Stinson Morrison Hecker and Conlon, Frantz & Phelan.  Nine other firms, including Patton Boggs, are entitled to divide 25% of the award.

The attorneys in the case reported more than 40,000 hours and 60,000 paralegal hours.  Marks, Francis and Sanders, the lead attorneys, said in the fee petition that class counsel “have incurred substantial out-of-pocket costs” and will not receive payment until at least late next year or later.  “The work effort of the class counsel in this case has already been enormous,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers said.

For more information, visit https://www.blackfarmercase.com