A recent New Jersey Law Journal story, “Philips/Magnavox Settles Class Action Over Malfunctioning TVs for $4 Million,” reports that a federal court has given final approval to $4 million class action settlement that resolves consumer fraud claims against Philips/Magnavox over overheating plasma and liquid crystal display flat-screen televisions.  U.S. District Judge Claire Cecchi in Newark signed off Monday on the deal, which in addition to the cash gives class members an uncapped number of vouchers.  It also provides $1.575 million for the plaintiffs’ attorney fees and expenses.

The $1.575 million approved for attorney fees and expenses is based on a $2,101,955 lodestar, with a multiplier of 0.75.  Cecchi, noting that the sum did not include fees for the fairness hearing, said there was no reason to reduce the lodestar given the degree of risk and high quality representation and thus concluded that the $1.575 million fee request was reasonable.  It also pass muster under the percentage of recovery cross-check, given that the fees comprised 39 percent of the cash portion alone, that class counsel spent nearly 4,000 hours over three years working on a contingent basis and that it fit within the range of fee awards in comparable cases.

The consolidated complaint, In re Philips/Magnavox Television Litigation, was filed in Dec. 2009, on behalf of 14 plaintiffs from New Jersey, California, Texas, Florida and elsewhere who paid as much as $5,100 for a 50-inch model.  The action alleged that Philips Electronics North America Corp. knowingly sold Philips and Magnavox TVs with defective power boards. 

Class counsel were Andrew Friedman of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll in Washington, DC, Michael Schwartz of Horwitz Horwitz & Paradis in New York and Steven Schwartz of Chimicles & Tikellis in Haverford, Pa.

For more information, visit www.philipsplasmatvsettlement.com