A federal judge who once decried the Roundup multidistrict litigation lead counsel’s request for common benefit fees as an “example of MDLs gone wild” has ordered the distribution of $24.2 million to those firms and four others that worked on the cases.
In a March 13 order, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria of the Northern District of California found that “the work performed by these firms conferred a significant benefit on all the plaintiffs in this MDL.” Although the distribution amount is far below lead counsel’s original 2021 request, estimated at $800 million, Chhabria’s order rejected a special master’s recommendation to grant $0 in common benefit fees.