The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has rejected a request by the Milberg law firm to increase its attorneys fees from 3% ($38 million) to 8.5 % (approximately $101 million) in the settlement of shareholder litigation against Nortel Networks Corp. Law.com reports that Judge Richard Berman of the Southern District of New York found that a 3 percent award already gave the firm twice what it would have received under an hourly lodestar calculation and that the challenges and complexities of the case were “not significantly different or greater” than others.
Milberg argued unsucccesfully that the lead plaintiff in the case had consented to the 8.5 percent award, and that such negotiated fees were presumptively reasonable.
