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Who Gets Paid in Securities Cases?

By Shannon P. Duffy
April 29, 2005

Rejecting an appeal brought by three law firms that demanded portions of the $55 million in attorney fees awarded in the $3.2 billion settlement of the Cendant Corp. securities litigation, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the lawyers who were named to lead the case have the power to say who gets paid.

In its 54-page opinion in In re Cendant Corp. Securities Litigation, a unanimous three-judge panel found that the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 established a “new paradigm” for securities litigation in which the lead plaintiffs and their lawyers call all the shots.

“The PSLRA lead plaintiff is now the driving force behind the class's counsel decisions, and the lead plaintiff's refusal to compensate non-lead counsel will generally be entitled to a presumption of correctness,” Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Edward R. Becker wrote.

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