A recent Law 360 story by Celeste Bott, “Class Attys Want $7M in Coca-Cola Milk False Ad MDL” reports that class counsel is asking an Illinois federal judge to award them $7 million in attorney fees after securing a $21 million deal to resolve multidistrict litigation alleging milk companies, including one owned by Coca-Cola Co., falsely advertised their milk as coming from humanely treated dairy cows.

Attorneys with DiCello Levitt Gutzler LLC, Reese LLP and Pearson Simon & Warshaw LLP said they achieved an excellent result for the class — including a recovery of 100% of the premium they paid for the milk, or 25% of the purchase price, and a monitoring and compliance program that will help ensure better treatment of dairy cows — that warrants fees amounting to one-third of the settlement fund.

"Class counsel's efforts prosecuting this matter paid off, resulting in a substantial, non-reversionary settlement fund of $21 million that provides enormous benefits to the class, along with important injunctive relief that targets the very heart of defendants' alleged wrongful conduct: inhumane treatment of their dairy cows," they said in their motion supporting the fee bid.

The fee request is a reasonable one given precedent in the Seventh Circuit, and fee requests approved by courts in other food and beverage class cases, the attorneys said.  It took significant time and work to achieve the end result, including two years of numerous, full-day mediation sessions; and substantial discovery requests and productions, they said.

"The fee petition set forth by class counsel here is reasonable because, at the initiation of this case, it was likely that resolving this matter would require thousands, if not tens of thousands, of hours of attorney time to complete and a significant capital investment," the motion states.  "Though the parties reached resolution earlier in the litigation than anticipated, this does not matter."  The attorneys added the case itself was challenging, with complex claims, and uncertainty surrounding class certification and the question of damages.