IN RE WASHINGTON PUBLIC POWER SUPPLY SYS. SEC. LIT.
| Decision Date | 06 September 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. MDL-551.,MDL-551. |
| Citation | 779 F. Supp. 1056 |
| Parties | In re WASHINGTON PUBLIC POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM SECURITIES LITIGATION. All Cases |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Arizona |
Paul M. Bernstein, Chairperson, Bernstein, Litowitz, Berger & Grossmann, New York City, for plaintiff Henry Puchall.
Melvyn I. Weiss, Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, Specthrie & Lerach, New York City, for plaintiff Joseph Harris.
Michael J. Meehan, Molloy, Jones & Donahue, P.C., Tucson, Ariz., for class plaintiffs.
Richard W. Clary, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, New York City, Michael Mines, exofficio, Bells, Patterson & Mines, Seattle, Wash., H. Michael Clyde, Brown & Bain, Phoenix, Ariz., and Harold R. Tyler, Jr., Patterson, Belknapp, Webb & Tyler, New York City, for plaintiff Chemical Bank.
James R. Irwin, Shidler, McBroom, Gates & Lucas, Seattle, Wash., for plaintiff Frankel Estate.
James J. Hagan, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, New York City, East Coast Liaison Counsel for defendants.
Albert R. Malanca, Gordon, Thomas, Honeywell, Malanca, Peterson & Daheim, Tacoma, Wash., West Coast Liaison Counsel for defendants.
Michael E. Kipling, Graham & Dunn, Seattle, Wash., for Various Class plaintiffs:
Allan K. Peckel, New York City, for plaintiffs David Gold and Marvin Frankel.
Jay Robert Stiefel, Berger & Montague, P.C., Philadelphia, Pa., for plaintiff Rosalyn Mirotznik.
Klari Neuwelt, Wolf, Popper, Ross, Wolf & Jones, New York City, for plaintiff Morris Massry.
Lawrence A. Sucharow, Goodkind, Labaton & Rudoff, Robert Schachter, Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling, New York City, for plaintiff Paul J. Bonseigneur.
Gerald Rodos, Barrack, Rodos & Bacine, Philadelphia, Pa., for plaintiff Dr. Howard Sheldon.
Samuel P. Sporn, Schoengold & Sporn, P.C., New York City, for plaintiff Jack Schroeder.
Paul F. Bennett, David B. Gold, P.C., San Francisco, Cal., Stephen P. Hoffman, Pomerantz, Levy, Haudek, Block & Grossman, New York City, for plaintiff Leonard Laub.
Bruce K. Cohen, Meredith & Cohen, P.C., Philadelphia, Pa., for plaintiffs Louis Brazen and 776 Broadway.
Daniel W. Krasner, Wolf, Haldenstein, Alder, Freeman & Herz, New York City, for plaintiff-intervenor Schein.
Harvey Greenfield, Irving Malchman, Kaufman, Malchman, Kaufmann & Kirby, New York City, for plaintiff Bryna Stepak.
Barry F. Schwartz, Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen, Philadelphia, Pa., for plaintiff Danny S. Fruchter.
Jules Brody, Stull, Stull & Brody, New York City, for plaintiff Lawrence Zucker.
Jack L. Block, Sachnoff, Weaver & Rubenstein, Ltd., Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff Martin Woolin.
Guido Saveri, Saveri & Saveri, Jeremiah F. Hallisey, Hallisey & Johnson, P.C., San Francisco, Cal., for plaintiff The Doctors Company.
Michael B. Hyman, Much, Shelist, Freed, Denenberg Ament & Eiger, P.C., Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff Ruth C. Sigmund, Trustee of Arthur W. Sigmund Residuary Trust and the Arthur W. Sigmund Marital Trust.
Albert R. Malanca, Donald S. Cohen, Kenneth G. Kieffer, Gordon, Thomas, Honeywell, Malanca, Peterson & Daheim, Tacoma, Wash., lead counsel for Washington Public Utilities Group and certain individual defendants.
Edwin J. Wheeler, Wheeler & Huss, Tacoma, Wash., for Town of Steilacoom, Wash.
James P. McNally, Ione, Wash., for Pend Oreille.
Richard A. Nelle, Blaine, Wash., for City of Blaine, Wash.
Jacob L. Smith, Smith & Rosellini, Lynden, Wash., for City of Sumas, Wash.
Julian C. Dewell, Anderson Hunter, Everett, Wash., for Orcas Power & Light Co.
David F. Jurca, Linda Cochran, Helsell, Fetterman, Martin, Todd & Hokanson, Seattle, Wash., lead counsel for Columbia defendants and certain individual defendants.
R.L. Marceau, Marceau, Karnopp, Peterson, Noteboom & Hubel, Bend, Or., for Central Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Dennis K. Bromley, Robert Gordon, Pauline O. Fox, Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro, San Francisco, Cal., lead counsel for the Snohomish Group.
Robert D. Stewart, David J. Lenci, Culp, Guterson & Grader, Seattle, Wash., lead counsel for the Washington Public Power Supply System.
Daniel R. Murdock, James L. Stengel, Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine, New York City, for the Washington Public Power Supply System.
Ralph K. Nickerson, Goldendale, Wash., for Public Utilities District # 1 of Klickitat County, Wash.
Rockne Gill, J. Laurence Cable, Bernard Ryan, Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, Portland, Or., Larry S. Gangnes, John Tomlinson, Paul Swanson, Lane, Powell, Spears & Lubersky, Seattle, Wash., lead counsel for the Oregon Public Entities and certain individual defendants.
R. Erick Johnson, P. Daniel Lindahl, Ronald E. Bailey, Bullivant, Houser, Bailey, Pendergrass & Hoffman, Portland, Or., for City of McMinnville, Or., City of Drain, Or., and Alan H. Jones.
Peter R. Mersereau, Rankin, VavRosky, Doherty, MacColl & Mersereau, Portland, Or., for City of Springfield, Or., City of Milton-Freewater, Or., Steve Loveland and J.R. Criswell.
Dwight A. Halstead, Prosser, Wash., for Benton Rural Electric Assn.
Everett B. Clary, Gwen Whitson, O'Molveny & Myers, Los Angeles, Cal., lead counsel for certain Washington Public Power Supply System Director defendants.
G. Edward Fitzgerald, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Los Angeles, Cal., Michelle Coyle, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Seattle, Wash., for certain Participants' Committee member defendants.
John D. Lowery, Thomas Burt, Thomas Hamerlinck, and David Brenner, Riddell, Williams, Bullitt & Walkinshaw, Seattle, Wash., lead counsel for the Small Utilities Group.
Herbert Gelman, Gelman, Courture & Pate, Tacoma, Wash., for Alder Mutual Light Co.
Malcolm S. Harris, Jack Orr, Michael Charneski, Harris, Orr & Wakayama, Seattle, Wash., co-lead counsel for Member Non-Participants and counsel for Public Utility District No. 1 of Ferry County, Wash., et al.
Camden M. Hall, Stellman Keehnel, Foster, Pepper & Shefelman, Seattle, Wash., co-lead counsel for Member Non-Participants and counsel for City of Seattle, Wash.
David B. Hatton, Civ. Div., U.S. Dept. of Justice, Portland, Or., J. Christopher Kohn, Director, Commercial Litigation Branch, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., lead counsel for United States of America-Bonneville Power Adm.
Steven J. Palmer, Leavy, Schultz & Sweeney, Pasco, Wash., for Franklin County PUD No. 1.
Bennet A. McConaughy, Foster, Pepper & Shefelman, Seattle, Wash., for City of Richland.
David A. Bennett, David Robbins, Bennett & Bigelow, Seattle, Wash., lead counsel for Law Firm defendants.
Irwin J. Sugarman, Robert Abrahams, Schulte, Roth & Zabel, New York City, Chris Robert Youtz, Sirianni & Youtz, Seattle, Wash., for Houghton, Cluck, Coughlin & Riley.
Otto G. Klein, Peter Danelo, Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe, Seattle, Wash., lead counsel for Engineer defendants United Engineers & Constructors, Inc., Ebasco Services Incorporated, R.W. Beck and Associates.
Ralph G. Wellington, Schnader, Harrison, Segal & Lewis, Philadelphia, Pa., John F. Kruger, Karr Tuttle Campbell, Seattle, Wash., for United Engineers & Contractors, Inc.
Peter J. Nickles, Covington & Burling, Washington, D.C., for Ebasco Services Inc.
Roy J. Moceri, Steve Todd, Reed, McClure, Moceri, Thonn & Moriarty, Seattle, Wash., for R.W. Beck & Associates.
James J. Hagan, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, New York City, lead counsel for Blyth Eastman Paine Webber Inc.
Jerry B. Edmonds, Margaret A. Sundberg, Williams, Kastner & Gibbs, Seattle, Wash., Thomas Chandler, Dan Cavett, Chandler, Tullar, Udall & Redhair, Tucson, Ariz., for Blyth Eastman Paine Webber Inc.
Herbert M. Wachtell, Peter C. Hein, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York City, lead counsel for Underwriter defendants Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith, Inc., Salomon Brothers, Inc., Smith Barney Harris Upham & Co., Inc. and Prudential-Bache Securities, Inc.
Philip C. Potter, Jr., Davis Polk & Wardwell, New York City, for Smith Barney Harris Upham & Co., Inc.
Leonard Joseph, Dewey, Ballantine, Bushby, Palmer & Wood, New York City, for Prudential-Bache Securities, Inc.
Richard A. Cirillo, Rogers & Wells, New York City, for Merrill Lynch.
Ronald E. McKinstry, Bogle & Gates, Seattle, Wash., Seattle Counsel for Underwriter defendants.
P.B. Konrad Knake, White & Case, New York City (counsel for Moody's Investors Service, Inc.), William M. Dallas, Jr., Sullivan & Cromwell, New York City (counsel for Standard & Poor's Corp.), co-lead counsel for Rating Agency defendants.
In a detailed and painstaking manner, this Court applied a "blended lodestar" analysis to 24 law firms' fee petitions. The Court carefully examined each of the attorney's billing records and made adjustments in both the reasonable hours expended and the reasonable rate in order to calculate the lodestar. The Fee Order, in a few instances, applied a multiplier to an individual attorney's lodestar.
The petitioners have moved for reconsideration of the Court's November 16, 1990 Fee Order. They raise several issues in their moving papers. For the following reasons, the motion will be denied.
The acceptability of percentage-based fees finds its roots in Blum v. Stenson, 465 U.S. 886, 104 S.Ct. 1541, 79 L.Ed.2d 891 (1984), where the United States Supreme Court in dicta, suggested its appropriateness. It is clear that the Ninth Circuit recognizes the applicability of both percentage-based fee awards and lodestar calculations in common fund cases. Three recent cases illustrate the point: State of Fla. v. Dunne, 915 F.2d 542 (9th Cir.1990); Six Mex. Workers v. Arizona Citrus Growers, 904 F.2d 1301 (9th Cir. 1990); Paul, Johnson, Alston & Hunt v. Graulty, 886 F.2d 268, 272 (9th Cir.1989).1
Clearly under Graulty, Dunne, and Six Mex. Workers, this Court had a choice when it addressed the fee award in this case. It could have applied a percentage-based analysis with a 25% "benchmark" or used a lodestar analysis. Adjustments to that benchmark would be made if the recovery were too...
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