A recent Law 360 story by Chris Villani, “Attys Want $11M for $58M Vets’ Home COVID Outbreak Deal” reports that attorneys who led a class of veterans and their families to a nearly $58 million settlement with the state of Massachusetts following a deadly COVID-19 outbreak at a veterans' home asked a judge to approve their $11.5 million fee request.  Lawyers from the western Massachusetts firm of Lesser Newman Aleo & Nasser LLP told U.S. District Judge Mark G. Mastroianni that their fee request, which is unopposed by the commonwealth, is on the low end among similar settlements in the First Circuit.

The $11,512,500 request is just under 20% of the $57,912,500 legislative appropriation that covers veterans who became ill or died of COVID-19 at Holyoke Soldiers' Home between March 1, 2020, and June 23, 2020.  None of the 164 members of the settlement class have objected to the fee request, the lawyers said.  "Bringing a lawsuit of this nature is a daunting task," the memorandum states.  "It should be rewarded with a full attorney fee award, particularly in this case, where the requested fee is on the low end of the range of attorney fee awards recoveries in common fund class actions in the First Circuit and a full attorney fee award will not decrease the amounts to be received by the class members."

The settlement for the class members and the fee award were also negotiated separately in this case, the attorneys said, with just over $46 million set aside for the individual victims and their families.  Their awards, therefore, would not be reduced by the fee request, according to the memorandum.  The class lawyers also argued that awarding a lower fee could provide a disincentive for the commonwealth to settle future similar cases or take steps to prevent such tragedies from happening in the first place.  The fee award would also encourage lawyers to tackle tough cases when people are harmed by state action, the attorneys argued.

"In taking this case on, counsel was aware that the likelihood of prevailing at trial and actually recovering a judgment was, at best, difficult, [and] numerous other attorneys had declined to represent the veterans who had died of COVID-19 at the Holyoke Soldiers' Home," the document states.  "And, if the case went to trial, the firm would end up spending several million dollars' worth of billable hours, as well as incurring a minimum of $500,000 in expert fees."