Updating our Apr. 9 item about the New Orleans federal judge who sealed the division of fees in the settlement of a class action:

Five attorneys who served on a closed-door committee that helped U.S. Judge Ivan Lemelle decide how to divvy up $6.6 million in legal fees in a settled federal lawsuit over tainted gasoline steered nearly half the money to their own firms, court records unsealed this week show.

Of 32 plaintiff’s attorneys and law firms involved in the case over fuel-gauge damage caused by contaminated gas made at Shell-Motiva refinery in Norco, the four top fee recipients — set to collect between $480,000 and $1.1 million — each had a member on the five-lawyer team that Lemelle formed last fall to recommend how much to pay the 79 lawyers who worked on the case. …

Dane Ciolino, a Loyola Law School ethics professor who petitioned the court to unseal the records on behalf of attorneys who claimed they were shortchanged, said Tuesday he was intrigued by the money roster.

“I think it’s very interesting that of five attorneys on the fee committee — those five out of the 32 firms (in the case) — managed to get roughly half the fees,” he said. “Being on the fee committee apparently is good work.”

The New Orleans Times-Picayune had also petitioned to unseal the records. (Michelle Krupa, “Lawyers steered settlement money to own firms”, New Orleans Times-Picayune, Jun. 5).

Filed under: class actions