A recent Law 360 story by Marco Poggio, “Attys Get $2.25 Fees in NYC Suit Over Bronx Protest Arrests”, reports that a New York federal judge has greenlighted $2.25 million in attorney fees for counsel who represented protesters trapped by police in a Bronx block during the 2020 protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, one of the attorneys confirmed. In an order giving her final approval on the settlement agreement in the cases Sierra et al v. City of New York and Wood v. De Blasio , U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon authorized the payment of attorney fees and costs through March 3, the day she gave her preliminary approval on the deal.
Judge McMahon called the total fees award "reasonable" and said it was the product of a "fair, arm's length negotiation" among parties. The judge also found the class counsel hourly rates — $800 per hour for Michael L. Spiegel, $575 for Rob Rickner of Rickner PLLC, $550 for Joshua S. Moskovitz of Hamilton Clarke LLP and his partners, $525 for Alison Frick and Douglas Lieb of Kaufman Lieb Lebowitz & Frick LLP, and $325 for two associates — to be appropriate.
The class's legal team estimated it clocked a total of 4,360 hours of attorney time, according to an Oct. 17 court filing by Moskovitz. "The class representatives and the whole legal team are very happy that the court has approved this groundbreaking class action settlement," Rickner told Law360. The attorneys will establish the fees accumulated after March 3 among themselves, and if no agreement will be reached, through petitions to the court, Judge McMahon said in her order.
The settlement agreement, which includes some of the highest payouts to protesters ever recorded, ends a class action brought on behalf of nearly 320 protesters who were arrested on June 4, 2020, in the Bronx neighborhood of Mott Haven. That event became one of the most highly criticized police responses to the citywide demonstrations going on at the time.
The five named plaintiffs in the suit, filed in December 2020, accused the New York City Police Department of violating their constitutional rights and causing them injuries when, as an 8 p.m. curfew was set to go into effect that day, officers encircled protesters in a stretch of East 136th Street and then hit them with batons, pushed them with raised bicycles and doused them with pepper spray.
The incident was highlighted as an example of excessive use of force by police in an investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who filed her own suit against the city of New York over its broader response to citywide protests against police brutality. As part of the settlement, each qualifying class member who was seized during the mass arrest will receive $21,500. Those who were issued a desk appearance ticket will be paid an additional $2,500. Each of the five class representatives will receive an additional $21,500 payment.
The total attorney fees and costs Judge McMahon approved are 12% lower than the $2.55 million maximum amount that class attorneys said they would seek following the preliminary approval of the settlement in March. The judge called the lower figure a substantial "discount" considering that, she said, the actual attorney fees were likely higher than the $2.55 million cap.
From an initial pool of 394 people identified as potential class members, 256 were eligible to file claims and 251 did. Twenty-eight settled their claims elsewhere, and one was found not to be a class member, leaving 222 people with eligible claims — a response topping 86%. In her order, Judge McMahon called that response "extraordinary" and said the deal provided "unprecedented per-person monetary awards." "The positive response rate received in this case is magnitudes above the average for class action cases," the judge said.