Objections have been filed to the $195 million fee request by plaintiffs’ attorneys who achieved a $586 million settlement in a massive federal initial public offering litigation. In papers filed yesterday by counsel for objectors, four attorneys argue the request for $195 million was “outrageous” and “a fee of 33.33 percent is not permissible in a mega-fund case like this.” Southern District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin is scheduled to hold a hearing tomorrow to give final approval to the settlement and pass judgment on the fee request by Bernstein Liebhard, Milberg LLP and other plaintiffs’ firms.
The objectors, led by attorney Edward F. Siegel of Cleveland, also argue in their papers in In Re Initial Public Offering Securities Litigation, MC-21-92, against $50 million in expenses sought by the plaintiffs’ firms, stating, “Whether the class should reward its counsel for flying first class and staying at 5-star hotels is a question. Whether the class should pay for the maintenance of the modern equivalent of each firm’s electronic law library (electronic research charges) is another.”
