The court in Tussey v. ABB Inc., No. 2:06-cv-04305 (W.D. Mo. Dec. 9, 2015), a long-running suit alleging that ABB failed to monitor recordkeeping fees and improperly mapped participants’ investments (previously reported on here), awarded class counsel $11.7 million in attorneys’ fees and affirmed its earlier award of $2.28 million in costs and class representative awards. The court explained that the defendant, in its view, “was not merely negligent but rather motivated by self-interest,” and the case made a “significant, national contribution” towards educating “plan administrators, the Department of Labor, the courts and retirement plan participants about the importance of monitoring recordkeeping fees and separating a fiduciary’s corporate interest from its fiduciary obligations.” The court also rejected defendant’s argument that the fee award was disproportionate to the $13.4 damage recovery because defendant had spent $42 million in attorneys’ fees defending the case, and that “[t]ying Plaintiffs’ counsel’s fees to a percentage of the monetary recovery would unfairly deprive them of compensation for the time spent successfully litigating important claims and issues.”
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