Plaintiffs' Lawyers Seek $60.8M in Fees in Native American Class Action

The plaintiffs' lawyers in Washington who negotiated a $760 million settlement for a class of Native- American farmers and ranchers are asking for $60.8 million in legal fees and expenses, court records show. The settlement in Keepseagle v. Vilsack, announced last year in October, sets out a range of fees between 4% and 8%. The settlement creates a cash fund of $680 million for eligible class members and sets out $80 million for debt relief. The suit, filed in 1999, alleged the U.S. Department of Agriculture discriminated against Native Americans in the government’s farm loan program. The plaintiffs’ attorneys, including lead counsel Joseph Sellers of Washington’s Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, said the class lawyers have invested nearly 42,000 hours in the case, amounting to about $16.2 million in fees, based on hourly rates, and $1.6 million in expenses. The plaintiffs’ lawyers predict future fees and expenses will reach $8.65 million. “This settlement was not achieved easily or quickly, but rather is the fruit of eleven years of hard-fought litigation including a vigorous contest on class [certification],” lawyers for lead plaintiff Marilyn Keepseagle said in court papers [.pdf] filed Jan. 14 in Washington’s federal trial court...more