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Largest Attorney Fee Awards in Securities Class Actions in U.S. History

August 5, 2013 | Posted in : Contingency Fees / POF, Fee Award, NALFA News, Study / Report

Case

Settlement Amt. Fee Award % Multiplier
In Re Enron Corp. Sec., Deriv. & ERISA $7.227B $688.23M 9.52 5.22
In Re WorldCom, Inc. Sec. Litig. $6.156B $336.10M 5.46 2.50
In Re Tyco Int'l Ltd. MDL $3.200B $464.00M 14.50 2.70
In Re Cendant Corp. Sec. Litig. $3.186B $262.46M 8.24 32.81
In Re AOL Time Warner Inc. Sec Litig. $2.500B $147.50M 5.90 3.15
In Re Nortel Networks Corp. Sec. (Nortel I) $1.142B $13.16M1 3.00 2.06
In Re Royal Ahold N.V. Sec. & ERISA $1.100B $130.64M 11.88 2.57
In Re Nortel Networks Corp. Sec.(Nortel II) $1.074B $29.61M2 8.00 4.77
In Re McKesson HBOC Inc. Sec. Litig. $960.00M $74.78M3 7.79 2.04
In Re UnitedHealth Group Inc. PSLRA Litig. $925.50M $64.78M 7.00 3.59
In Re American Int'l Group Inc. Sec. Litig. $822.50M $101.91M 12.39 0.95
In Re HealthSouth Corp. Sec. Litig. $804.50M $138.19M4 17.18 1.20
Carlson v. Xerox Corp. $750.00M $120.00M 16.00 1.25
In Re Wachovia Preferred Sec. and Bonds $627.70M $75.24M 12.00 2.30
In Re Lucent Techs. Inc. Sec. Litig, $608.35M $102.47M5 16.85 2.14
In Re Countrywide Fin. Corp. Sec. Litig. $601.50M $46.47M 7.73 0.67
In Re Cardnial Health Inc. Sec. Litig. $600.00M $107.58M 17.93 5.85
In Re Initial Public Offering Sec. Litig. $586.00M $170.08M 29.02 0.45
In Re Lehman Bros. Sec. and ERISA $516.21M $56.72M 10.99 1.50
In Re BankAmerica Corp. Sec. Litig. $490.00M $86.41M6 17.64 3.00
In Re Merrill Lynch Sec. Diriv. & ERISA $475.00M $37.12M 7.82 2.26
In Re Dynegy Inc. Sec. Litig. $474.05M $35.15M7 8.73 4.04
In Re Raytheon Co. Sec. Litig. $460.00M $41.40M8 9.00 3.15
In Re Waste Mgm't Inc. Sec. Litig. $457.00M $36.22M 7.93 5.29
In Re Adelphia Commc'ns Corp. Sec. Deriv $455.00M $97.37M 21.40 2.89
In Re Global Crossing Ltd. Sec. & ERISA $447.80M $72.72M9 16.24 2.57
In Re Qwest Commc'ns Int'l Sec. Litig. $445.00M $66.75M10 15.00 3.24
Ohio Pub. Emp. Ret. Sys. v. Freddie Mac $410.00M $82.00M 20.00 2.32
In Re Marsh & McLennan Co. Inc. Sec. Litig. $400.00M $52.91M 13.23 0.44

Please Note: The above represents the largest attorney fee awards in Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) settlements in U.S history.  The following data does not included settlements that occurred in 2013.

Footnotes:

1:  Nortel I provided for $438,667,428 and 314,333,875 shares of (pre-consolidation) Nortel stock.  3% of each was awarded to counsel, resulting in $13,160,022 in cash and 9,430,016 shares of common stock.

2: Nortel II provided for $370,157,428 and 314,333,875 shares of Nortel common stock valued at $2.24 per share.  8% of each was awarded to counsel, resulting in $29,612,594 in cash and 25,146,710 shares of common stock.

3:  In McKesson HBOC, there were separate settlements with different defendants in 2007, 2008 and 2012.  Much of the fee data concerning these settlements is not publicly available.  The fee data indicated herein is just against McKesson defendants, which accounts for more than 92% of the total settlement amount.

4: There were several different settlements in HealthSouth against various over the course of 3 years: $445 million in 2008, $109 million in 2009, $117 million in 2010, and $133.5 million in 2010 for the Bonds case.  Attorneys’ fees of $77,875,000 of $445 million, or 17.5%, was approved in 2008, $20,154,100 of $109 million, or 18.49%, was approved in 2009, $22,815,000 of $117 million, or 19.5%, was approved in 2010 and $17,355,000 of $133.5 million, or 13%, was approved in 2010 for the Bonds case.  The fee percentage and lodestar information here represent the aggregate of all the settlements.

5: There were several different settlements in Lucent Techs. for various classes: $517 million (made up of cash, stock and warrants) for common shareholders class, $69 million for the ERISA class, $4.6 million for an individual plaintiff, $3.75 million for debt security holders, and $14 million for the derivative plaintiffs.  Attorneys’ fees were $87.89 million (or 17%), $10.35 million (or 15%), $920,000 (or 20%), $937,500 (or 25%) and $2.38 million (or 17%) for each respective class.  The fee percentage and lodestar information here represent the aggregate of all the settlements.

6: There were two settlements in BankAmerica for different plaintiff classes: $156.8 million for BankAmerica plaintiffs and $333.2 million for the NationsBank plaintiffs.  Attorneys’ fees were $27.58 million and $58.83 million respectively.  The fee percentage and lodestar information here represent the aggregate of both of the settlements.

7: In Dynegy, the settlement was $406.05 million in cash and 17,578,781 shares worth $68 million of Dynegy stock.  The court awarded 8.7257% of both, which amounts to $35,151,482 in cash and 1,533,872 shares of Dynegy common stock worth $5.93 million, for a total fee of $41.08 million.

8: There were two settlements in Raytheon against multiple defendants: $210 million in cash and $200 million worth of settlement warrants with certain defendants, and $50 million with PricewaterhouseCoopers.  The fee percentage and lodestar information here represent the aggregate of both of the settlements.

9: There were several different settlements in Global Crossing against various defendants: $245 million with Global Crossing Officers and Directors (“D&O”) on March 19, 2004, with $75 million with Citigroup on March 8, 2005, $25 million with Arthur Andersen LLP on July 7, 2005, $99 million with various financial institutions on July 25, 2006 and $3.8 million with Microsoft Corp. and Softbank Corp. on May 30, 2007.  Attorneys’ fees were $38.4 million (approximately 16%), $13.3 million (or 17%), $4.5 million (or 17%), $15.95 million (or 16%) and $570,000 million (or 15%) from each respective settlement.  The fee percentage and lodestar information here represent the aggregate of all the settlements.

10: There were two settlements in Qwest: $400 million with certain defendants in 2006 and $45 million with other defendants in 2009.  Attorneys’ fees were $60 million (or 15%) and $6.75 million (or 15%) respectively.  The fee percentage and lodestar information here represent the aggregate of both of the settlements.