Although Abbey and Kirby were no doubt on the stingy side when it came to compensating their brethren, we have not been convinced that the District Court abused its discretion in approving class counsel’s allocation.
Victor v. Argent Classic Convertible Arbitrage Fund L.P. (In re Adelphia Communications Corp. Securities & Derivative Litig.), No. 08-4904-cv (2d Cir. Oct. 14, 2010) (per Parker, J.) (affirming district court’s award of $155,610 to non-lead counsel law firm instead of $17,476,500 it requested).
Blawgletter notes that the complaining firm based its fee request on its inclusion of claims under sections 11 and 12 of the Securities Act of 1933 in the complaint it filed before the district court appointed two other firms as co-lead counsel. That the idea of invoking the Securities Act in the context of a securities case shows lawyerly brilliance strikes us as a tad, well, dumb. And we don’t have words for the audacity of asking a court to award $17.5 million on the basis of a $156,000 lodestar.