Ridiculous amount for attorneys' fees need to be altered

Recently the state Supreme Court reversed an award of $7.2 million in attorney fees for a class action lawsuit. If the judge’s decision had been allowed to stand, the attorneys would have received 154 times more than the $45,780 that the plaintiffs got. The court should be cheered for exhibiting common sense — but maybe it’s too soon.

The State Chamber filed an amicus brief in this case arguing that the $7.2 million attorney fee award was ridiculous when considering the total award to the plaintiffs was less than $50,000. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court reversed and remanded the case solely on the basis of how the attorney fees were calculated, not on how outrageous they were. Justice Joseph Watt stated in the opinion that it was “premature” to consider the amount of the fee awarded. Really?

Is it premature to state that $7.2 million is too much to pay attorneys when their clients only got $140 each? Justice Steven Taylor wrote separately stating, “The trial court's attorney-fee award of $7,221,438.30 is 154 times the recovery. Such a disproportional benefit to the lawyers relative to the claimants' recovery is repugnant to the purposes of our judicial system.” Well said.

We can only hope the judge pays close attention to Justice Taylor’s advice. And we can only hope that the rest of the Supreme Court pays close attention if this case comes back: $45,780 for the whole class of plaintiffs and millions of dollars for their attorneys is simply wrong.

Mike Seney, Oklahoma City - Seney is senior vice president of policy analysis & strategic planning for the State Chamber of Oklahoma.