First came the mixing up of allegations of racial discrimination against Interstate Bakeries, producer of Wonder Bread and Hostess Twinkies (Jul. 3, 2000). Then came the baking of juror sentiment to a tasty turn by San Francisco plaintiff’s lawyer Angela Alioto’s team, resulting in a $132 million award to 21 workers (Aug. 4, 2000). Then came some deflation of the spongy loaf, as a judge lopped $97 million off the award (Oct. 10, 2000). Now, six years later, the case having settled for maybe $25 million, a lawyer who worked with Alioto continues to battle her in court for a share of the mouth-watering fees (Mike McKee, “Lawyer Still Seeks Slice of Wonder Bread Fees”, The Recorder/Law.com, Apr. 28).
Update: Wonder Bread dough
First came the mixing up of allegations of racial discrimination against Interstate Bakeries, producer of Wonder Bread and Hostess Twinkies (Jul. 3, 2000). Then came the baking of juror sentiment to a tasty turn by San Francisco plaintiff’s lawyer Angela Alioto’s team, resulting in a $132 million award to 21 workers (Aug. 4, 2000). Then […]
One Comment
$2 million does not strike me as excessive for a case that went all the way to trial and up on appeal, particularly since it produced a $25 million settlement in the end. Certainly, one has to imagine that the total bill from Wonder Bread’s defense team was at least five times as high. And also, isn’t six or seven years from filing to appeal relatively standard in California’s state courts?