A recent Law 360 story by Ali Sullivan, “Attys Want $76M After $255M Juul Settlement”, reports that lawyers who secured a $255 million deal to settle claims over Juul Labs Inc.'s vape marketing practices have asked a California federal court for $76.5 million in attorney fees plus a proportional share of interest, saying the novelty and complexity of the litigation warrant exceeding the typical 25% benchmark for fee awards.

Co-lead counsel representing the plaintiffs said their suit against Juul Labs Inc. was not a "garden-variety consumer class action."  Adding to the notoriously expensive and protracted nature of tobacco litigation was the serious possibility that Juul Labs would file for bankruptcy following scrutiny by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the attorneys said.  Still, co-lead counsel Dena C. Sharp of Girard Sharp LLP wrote in the motion, the plaintiffs' attorneys navigated those headwinds and pursued novel legal theories to obtain the "excellent result," warranting 30% of the Juul settlement fund plus interest.

"The result obtained for the settlement class — a settlement of $255M funded by some, but not all, of the defendants — is exceptional and warrants an upward adjustment," the motion said.  The motion also seeks up to $4.1 million for reimbursing out-of-pocket expenses and awards for the 86 class representatives plaintiffs ranging from $5,000 to $33,000.

Juul Labs told the court in December it had reached a settlement with the plaintiffs in the litigation, which include adolescents, school districts, municipalities and Native American tribes, to resolve economic loss claims nationwide.  Seeking preliminary approval of the deal, the plaintiffs in December said that Juul separately but concurrently agreed to resolve individual plaintiffs' personal injury claims and government entities' public nuisance claims.