Criticizing a plaintiffs firm for hiring temporary associates for routine document review—but billing as if normal staff associates did the work—a New York federal judge has cut $10.3 million off a fee request in a settlement of a mortgage-backed securities case against Bank of America Corp.
Ruling on Dec. 27, U.S. District Judge William Pauley III in Manhattan signed off on a $335 million settlement between Bank of America and a certified class of investors. The deal’s approval came in a five-year-old case that accused the bank of misleading investors about its financial exposure related to demands that the bank repurchase residential mortgage-backed securities it had sold.
