Federal Judiciary

The Honorable Solomon Oliver, Jr., United States District Judge for the Northern District of Ohio, sitting by designation. CLAY, Circuit Judge. Plaintiffs, Lorillard Tobacco Company, Phillip Morris USA Inc., and R.J. Reynolds Company, brought this interpleader action against a number of attorneys, including 1 No. 07-3589 Lorillard Tobacco Co., et al. v. Chester, Willcox, and Saxbe, et al. Page 2 the five Defendants-Appellants (?Florida Counsel?),1 to determine the proper recipients of four annual $125 million payments that Plaintiffs agreed to pay as part of an attorneys? fee agreement related to the 1998 tobacco settlement. Florida Counsel, five law firms that represented the State of Florida in the tobacco litigation, appeal the district court?s order overruling their objections to claims to the proceeds of the settlement of the interpleader action by five limited liability companies and Deutsche Bank Trust Company of America (?Deutsche Bank?). For the reasons that follow, we REVERSE the district court?s ruling and REMAND for further proceedings.