 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
7-Eleven Owners For Fair Franchising v. Southland Corp.12/29/2000
fees. (Mr. Franklin argues that he should have been awarded $8.75 million in fees.) Second, if the claim were to succeed and the settlement derailed, the case would go to trial. As the trial court stated at the final April 1998 hearing, "If the California case is tried, based upon what I have seen in this Court, it would be a disaster for the plaintiffs . . . [ ] . . . A major disaster."
Third, in negotiating the settlement agreement, settlement counsel were denied access to the Franklin group's time records. Some attorneys of the Franklin group eventually did turn over their time records, although two of those were post hoc efforts; a third attorney had billed substantial hours on what settlement counsel regarded as "wasteful" efforts in the failed antitrust claims.Last, the trial court determined the amount of the fees was reasonable, given considerations of quantity and quality. It appears that Franklin billed for much of the unsuccessful antitrust work and for the time spent opposing the settlement.
These flaws in former class counsels' performance were perhaps best summed up by the trial judge who commented on objectors' efforts to overturn the settlement at the close of the December 3 hearing: "This proceeding, like the one that we had previously on the issue of whether . . . the settlement was procured by fraud or collusion, also was an unfocused and ineffective presentation . . . . I have gone over every document that's been presented. And it is true, there are documents here . . . which, by centering . . . on one or another sentence . . . can justify real suspicions . . . . But we have had four years of opportunity to translate those suspicions into a sound case, and I have yet to see that sound case presented on behalf of the plaintiffs."
9. Other Claims of Objectors.
Objectors present a miscellany of additional attacks on the settlement agreement. First, they assert that a settlement benefit based on Southland's assumption of the costs of the RIS computer billing system was "illusory" because the company was going to assume those substantial costs-valued at $25 million-in any case. The franchise agreements, however, permitted Southland to impose the costs on franchisees. The company, it is true, had underwritten certain pilot costs of the project, but did not plan to assume the costs in the future. The trial court, in any event, explored these claims of illusory benefits at length in the fairness hearings. We cannot say the outcome represented an abuse of discretion.
Next, objectors contend the trial court erred by placing the burden of proof on those opposing the settlement agreement. This appears to be in the nature of an ipse dixit argument, without support in the record. It is clear from the record that the trial court, at least, understood the settlement proponents had the burden of proof. As the Dunk court explained in rejecting a similar claim, "[Objectors] misapprehend [the class representatives'] burden. [They] made a sufficient showing which [objectors] failed to adequately rebut." (Dunk, supra, 48 Cal.App.4th at p. 1800.)
III. CONCLUSION
Of the contemporary American class action, Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit has written that it "differ from ordinary lawsuits in that the lawyers for the class, rather than the clients, have all the initiative and are close to being the real parties in interest. This fundamental departure from the traditional pattern in Anglo-American litigation generates a host of problems well illustrated" by efforts to settle such litigation. (Mars Steel Corp, supra, 843 F.2d at p. 678.) That observation is doubly borne out by the voluminous record in this case. It is tro
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 California Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|