Two years after Lumber Liquidators settled two class action suits for $36 million—$22 million in cash and $14 million in vouchers—a Fourth Circuit court approved the portion of the agreement that awards $10.08 million of the settlement to the lawyers of the class action suits, Bloomberg Law reported.
The class-action lawsuits pertained to allegedly defective laminate flooring the company sold from 2009–2015. The settlement agreement for the two suits stated that attorney’s fees may not exceed 33.33% of the $36 million. However, following the settlement, objectors appealed, noting that $14 million of the settlement was in store vouchers, which should not be included in calculating attorneys fees, and that the cash awarded to the class—$9.9 million—is less than the amount for the attorneys.
“The text of the settlement agreement was—and remains—plain and unambiguous: attorney's fees may not exceed 33.33% of the sum of $22 million and $14 million, or $36 million in total,” Chief Judge Robert King stated in his rejection of the appeal. “The district court's award of $10.08 million in fees constitutes 28% of the $36 million Settlement Fund, as it has since the court first awarded that amount in 2018. Accordingly, we reemphasize that the Objectors are unable to demonstrate any reversible error or abuse of discretion on the district court's part in connection with its Attorney's Fees Order.”
