Missouri Lawyers Media Missouri legal news and public notices
Where plaintiffs’ attorneys who were involved in multidistrict litigation but who were not members of the leadership counsel were denied their request for fees from a common benefit trust fund, the settlement agreement resolved that a percentage of payments due to clients of the plaintiffs’ attorneys would be allocated to the fund, so they waived their challenge to the creation of the fund and to the order that they and their clients must contribute to the fund, and the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying their request for additional procedures before fund money was distributed, or in denying their request for fees since the district court’s decision is owed deference and the court emphasized the group’s lack of collaboration with the leadership group in this case.
Judgment is affirmed.
The Phipps Group v. Downing (MLW No. 66842/Case No. 12-3958 – 17 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, Colloton, J.) Appealed from U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, Perry, J. (Kimberly S. Keller, Boerne, Texas, argued for appellant; Michael Gross appeared on the brief) (Gretchen Garrison, St. Louis, argued for appellee; Don Manley Downing, Adam J. Levitt and Stacey Kelly Breen appeared on the brief).
Read the full text of this opinion. (PDF)
