May 15 was a busy day for the name partners at the Tyler, Texas-based Martin Walker law firm. Each billed 14.5 hours at $750 an hour, for a total of $21,750, to review lawsuits six Texas counties were preparing to file against opioid manufacturers and distributors that day.
BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - Labaton Sucharow revealed it has agreed to pay referral fees to outside lawyers in almost a third of its open lawsuits, responding to prodding from the judge overseeing the scandal-tinged, $300 million State Street Bank & Trust case.
The federal judge who unleashed a wide-ranging investigation into the fee practices of Labaton Sucharow was unimpressed by the class action firm’s agreement to install an ethics monitor and revamp its rules.
BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - Securities class action firm Labaton Sucharow has reached a tentative truce with the special master investigating questionable activities that include a $4.1 million referral fee paid to a lawyer who did no work but served as the middleman between Labaton and an Arkansas pension fund that served as lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against State Street Bank and Trust.
A federal judge unsealed a lengthy report accusing Labaton Sucharow and a Massachusetts law firm of deliberately misleading the court about how it distributed the fees in a $300 million settlement with State Street Bank and Trust Co., including $4.1 million paid to a Houston lawyer who did no work on the case.
Labaton Sucharow, having failed to get a federal judge to recuse himself, asked him to turn over records of any out-of-court communications with the special master probing allegations that Labaton overcharged its clients and improperly shared part of its $75 million fee.
An Arkansas pension fund has retained a law firm with expertise in criminal and corporate investigations as arguments over $75 million in class action attorney fees continue in federal court.
BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - The public might not get to view the findings of a special master tasked with examining why a $300 million class action settlement included inflated hourly rates and a suspicious $200,000 payment to a public defender who is the brother of one of the lead plaintiffs lawyers.
NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) – A retirement system alleges it suffered significant losses and damages because of a decline of market value in shares of a computer networking hardware company.
