Miscellaneous

Update: 5th Circuit overturns Louisiana fuel-gauge fee division

By Walter Olson, Ted Frank, and David Nieporent

Last week the "5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voided a 2007 lower court order parceling out $6.8 million in fees to plaintiffs attorneys in a lawsuit over tainted Shell gasoline." The case had come under intense criticism, as we noted last year, "after the lawyers in charge prevailed on a federal judge to conceal the allocation of fees from public scrutiny, including scrutiny by members of the client class as well as dissident lawyers". The ruling marks a victory for Loyola lawprof Dane Ciolino, who assisted objectors and helped rally public attention to the problems with the settlement. (Susan Finch, "Decision allocating legal fees tossed", Nola.com (New Orleans Times-Picayune), Feb. 8).

Full post as published by Overlawyered on February 11, 2008 (boomark / email).