A federal judge who castigated an $800 million request from lead plaintiffs counsel suing over Roundup has granted the fee order—though imposing changes that would result in a significantly reduced amount—while calling for new rules over multidistrict litigation  compensation “that seems to have gotten totally out of control.”

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, who is overseeing the Roundup multidistrict litigation in the Northern District of California, had originally threatened to reject a so-called common benefit fund, which compensates lead plaintiffs counsel for work they did for the benefit of all Roundup attorneys, calling such fees “an example of MDLs gone wild.” Lead plaintiffs attorneys had asked for an order holding back 8% of the fees and 0.25% of the litigation costs of lawyers who obtained settlements and judgments for Roundup plaintiffs.