District Judge John Canavan
Tecumseh Countywide News
A $7.2 million award from Pottawatomie County District Court to attorneys in a national class action lawsuit was struck down…by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
The court reversed and remanded District Court Judge John Canavan’s finding that attorneys in a class action against Volkswagen of America Inc. should get $7.2 million in fees. The West Law Firm of Shawnee was among firms in South Carolina, Ohio and Florida who handled the case against Volkswagen of America Inc. The case, which never went to trial, sought compensation for Volkswagen Jetta owners over front spoilers that would catch on curbs or wheel-stops.
The court noted that while more than two million Jetta owners were potential plaintiffs, only 310 filed valid claims. None of those were in Oklahoma. Damages awarded to the plaintiffs in 2013 came to $45,780.
Originally, the court awarded $3.6 million in attorney fees, but later increased it to $7.2 million by using criteria the high court found to be improper.
“The case “is about a $140 replacement, including parts and labor, of a piece of decorative plastic on a Volkswagen Jetta,” Justice Steven Taylor wrote in his concurring opinion. “It is not about attorneys acting as private attorneys general protecting the social good; it is about attorneys acting with a business plan. It is not about righting a constitutional wrong, it is not about protecting Jetta owners from bodily injury or death, and it is not about protecting the public policy of this state. It is about 310 pieces of decorative plastic.”
Taylor said the judge did not correctly consider the relationship between the recovery and the attorney fees, given that the fee award was 154 times what the Jetta owners received. He called that the “most egregious error by far.”
“Such a disproportional benefit to the lawyers relative to the claimants’ recovery,” Taylor wrote, “is repugnant to the purpose of our judicial system and to the purpose of class actions and erodes confidence in the courts.”
The Oklahoma Supreme Court justices were unanimous in voting to reverse and remand the attorney fee award. Listed as disqualified was Justice Douglas Combs, a Shawnee resident and former district court judge in Pottawatomie County.
Never thought I would live to see the day when a bunch of lawyers would tell another lawyer that he was trying to make too much money!