Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST—N.D. Cal.: Attorney fees of $11.4M awarded in optical disk drive price-fixing suit, (Jul 27, 2015)

By Linda O’Brien, J.D., LL.M.

The federal district court in San Francisco has awarded almost $11.4 million in attorneys’ fees following settlements by direct purchasers with some of the defendants in a consolidated class action against manufacturers of optical disk drives for conspiring to fix prices (In re Optical Disk Drive Antitrust Litigation, July 23, 2015, Seeborg, R.).

Direct purchasers of electronic products filed class action complaints against Hitachi, LG, Panasonic, NEC Corporation, and other electronic product manufacturers, alleging that the manufacturers engaged in a conspiracy to rig bids and fix prices for optical disk drives (ODDs) that are included in various electronic devices. Some of the defendants in the litigation have settled their claims: Hitachi and LG Electronics for $26 million; Panasonic for $5.75 million; and NEC Corporation for $6 million.

In March 2015, the direct purchaser plaintiffs moved for an award of attorneys’ fees, reimbursement of expenses, and incentive payments in connection with the settlements. The matter was continued for the plaintiffs to provide supplementary information regarding the number of claims made and estimated payout per class member. The plaintiffs then renewed their motion, without objection.

The court found that the requested attorney fee award of almost $11.4 million, which was 30 percent of the combined settlement fund of $37.9 million, was fair and reasonable under the percentage-of-the-recovery method. The excellent recovery obtained by class counsel, the risks and complexity of the case, the range of awards made in similar cases, and the small number of objections from class members challenging the percentage of fees sought by class counsel justified the requested award. The fee award was confirmed by a lodestar cross-check based on historic hourly rates for the appointment of lead counsel.

Additionally, the reimbursement of expenses of over $1.6 million incurred by class counsel in the prosecution of the case was reasonable, given the complex nature and nationwide scope of the case. Finally, the requested incentive awards of $5,000 to $10,000 for eleven class representatives were reasonable and justified in light of the reputational and financial risks faced by class representatives in bringing the lawsuit and their active participation in the litigation and settlement processes.

The case is No. 3:10-cv-02143-RS.

Attorneys: Gregory K. Arenson (Kaplan Fox and Kilsheimer LLP) for Direct Purchaser Plaintiffs. John F. Cove, Jr. (Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP) for Sony Corp. Ameri Rose Klafeta (Eimer Stahl LLP) for LG Electronics, Inc. Anthony C. Biagioli (Ropes & Gray LLP) for Hitachi-LG Data Storage, Inc. Casandra Leann Thomson (Latham & Watkins LLP) for Toshiba Corp. Evan Werbel (Baker Botts LLP) for Koninklijke Philips N.V.

Companies: Toshiba Corp.; Koninklijke Philips N.V.

Cases: Antitrust CaliforniaNews