In re Volkswagen "Clean Diesel" Marketing, Sales Practices, and Productions Liability Litigation, No. 17-16020 (9th Cir. 2019)

Court Description: Attorneys’ Fees / Class Action The panel affirmed the district court’s order denying the 244 motions for attorneys’ fees filed by non-class counsel, arising from an underlying class action that secured a settlement of more than $10 billion and an additional award of $175 million in fees for class counsel, in a multi-district litigation concerning claims predicated on Volkswagen’s use of defeat devices in certain VW and Audi diesel vehicles. The panel held that appellants, who were law firms and lawyers that appealed in their own names (with the exception of appellant Roald Clark Fleishman, Jr. who joined his attorney’s appeal), had standing to challenge the fee order. The panel concluded, as a matter of first impression, that appellants had standing because they suffered an injury (deprivation of attorneys’ fees) that was caused by the conduct complained of (the fee order) and would be redressed by judicial relief. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 permits an award of fees when authorized by law or the parties’ agreement, and courts have an independent obligation to ensure that the award, like the settlement itself, is reasonable. Because the underlying class action did not feature a traditional common fund from which attorneys’ fees were procured, appellants could only have collected fees if they provided a substantial benefit to the class. The panel concluded that the district