A recent Law 360 story, “Ore. Seeks $4.8M in Fees, Costs in LCD Price Fixing MDL” reports that the Oregon Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday asked a California federal court to award it up to $4.8 million in costs and attorneys’ fees from $21.5 million in deals the state struck with LG, Toshiba, Samsung, Sharp and others that settled its claims in multidistrict litigation over alleged price-fixing of liquid crystal display products.
The office seeks attorneys' fees of $3.77 million and costs of $967,244 and that it receive permission to distribute up to $60,000 to 12 public entities for the time and expenses they incurred because of the defendants’ discovery efforts, up to $17,500 to state Department of Justice attorneys for work to conclude the case and $800 to a retired state employee who provided testimony in the matter, according to the proposed order.
The request notes that the fee amount represents a smaller percentage than that awarded to other plaintiffs’ groups in the MDL, in which the tech companies faced allegations that they participated in an LCD price-fixing cartel.
“The record supports the requested award, particularly given the efforts required and the amount of the settlement fund,” the proposed order reads. “Many of the legal issues confronted by the attorneys in this matter were questions of first impression, and the labor required was substantial and required attorneys of skill and experience.”
Oregon struck the deals with a host of individual defendant entities related to Hitachi Ltd., Chi Mei Corp., Epson Imaging Devices Corp., LG Display Co. Ltd., Sharp Corp., Samsung Electronics America Inc., AU Optonics Corp., Toshiba Corp. and HannStar Display Corp, according to the settlement. The amounts ranged from Epson’s $105,000 to LG’s $6.97 million, according to the filing.
The long-running LCD antitrust battle reaches back to 2006, when AUO, Sharp Electronics Corp., LG Electronics Inc. and others were hit with a flurry of suits after regulators on three different continents revealed they were investigating an LCD price-fixing cartel.
A federal jury in California found AUO guilty of participating in the conspiracy in March 2012, a verdict that led to a $500 million penalty for the Taiwanese LCD maker and federal prison terms for some of its top executives.
Many of the accused companies have gradually reached settlements with direct purchaser and indirect purchaser classes as well as state prosecutors.
The individual case is State of Oregon ex rel. Ellen F. Rosenblum v. AU Optronics Corporation et al., case number 3:10-cv-04346 and the MDL is In Re: TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigation, case number 3:07-md-01827, both in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.