In re Chrysler Motors Corp.

137 F.R.D. 665, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11025, 1991 WL 136853
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedJuly 25, 1991
DocketMDL No. 740A
StatusPublished

This text of 137 F.R.D. 665 (In re Chrysler Motors Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Chrysler Motors Corp., 137 F.R.D. 665, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11025, 1991 WL 136853 (E.D. Mo. 1991).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

NANGLE, District Judge.

On May 7, 1991, the Court issued a memorandum and order [A(902)] setting forth the procedure by which lead and former liaison counsel are to be compensated for their time and reimbursed for the costs they have incurred in these tag-along actions. In response thereto, lead and former liaison counsel have submitted statements of expenses [A(910) and A(909) respectively], Lead counsel [in A(912), A(912a), A(929), A(930)], former liaison counsel [in A(919)], Chrysler Motors Corporation [in A(923))], tag-along plaintiffs Randy and Karen Warner [in A(918) ], and tag-along plaintiffs Paul and Jane Monier [in A(922)] have submitted various memo-randa concerning issues raised by the May 7 order as to which they object or desire clarification. The Court will first address the issues raised in these memoranda and then turn to the calculation and apportionment of lead and former liaison counsel’s expenses.

I. Counsel Fees Issues Raised in the Parties’ Memoranda

1. Confidential Settlements in Hume and Monier. Lead counsel is concerned about recouping his 30% contingency fee1 in the Hume and Monier cases, in which settlement was reached without the involvement of lead counsel and subject to certain confidentiality agreements. Nei[668]*668ther the Hume nor Monier plaintiffs have filed any response to lead counsel’s concern; Chrysler has indicated that it foresees no problem with disclosing to lead and former liaison counsel the settlement amounts in these cases, so long as counsel’s use of that information is subject to appropriate confidentiality restraints. Lead counsel has further responded that he has no objection to being bound by the confidentiality of the settlement agreements.

Accordingly, the Court orders the parties to the Hume and Monier settlements to jointly prepare an appropriate protective order governing the disclosure of the settlement amounts to lead and former liaison counsel. The draft order shall be submitted to the Court for its signature within ten days of the date of this order. Thereafter, the parties to the Hume and Monier settlements shall jointly draw up appropriate sworn statements as to the amount of settlement in each case. Within five days of the issuance of the protective order, the statement for each case must be signed by all parties to the settlement in question, filed with the Court under seal, and served on lead and former liaison counsel only. Simultaneous with the filing and service of the sworn statement, the Hume and Monier plaintiffs must pay lead and former liaison counsel the fees to which they are entitled under the May 7 order, and file with the Court a notice indicating that they have done so.

2. Enforcement of Fee Awards. Lead counsel has expressed concern about his ability to enforce the fee award granted by the Court, particularly in those cases in which plaintiffs have already received from Chrysler the settlements upon which they have agreed. Lead counsel further suggests that the Court should punish Chrysler’s complicity in negotiating settlements without lead counsel’s knowledge and participation, in violation of the Court’s March 8, 1989 order [A(28) ], by ordering Chrysler to pay lead counsel’s fee in those cases. As is to be expected, Chrysler vigorously opposes any such sanction, arguing that the settlement agreements reached in such cases leave responsibility for counsel’s fees with the settling plaintiffs.

Although lead counsel intimates that numerous plaintiffs have informed him that Chrysler contacted them directly in an attempt to circumvent lead counsel’s involvement in settlement negotiations, and although the Court does possess authority to sanction violations of its orders, the Court does not have before it a motion for sanctions and refuses in the instant context to take on the task of finding the facts necessary to the resolution of any such motion.

Though not specific with respect to parties and dollar amounts, the Court’s May 7 order “ordered, adjudged and decreed” lead and former liaison counsel’s entitlement to fees as there described. The Court now specifically orders that, in all tag-along cases that have settled since the April 5, 1989 deadline, other than the Hume and Monier cases addressed above, fees in the amount prescribed by the May 7 order are to be paid to lead and former liaison counsel, by the party responsible for the payment of counsel fees under the terms of the settlement agreement, within ten days of the date of liaison counsel’s service of this order. Within twenty days of liaison counsel’s service of this order, lead and former liaison counsel shall file status reports indicating in which cases they have received payment of fees as ordered, and, where fees have not been paid as ordered, indicating who owes them and in what amount. Any party failing to pay fees as ordered will be subject to sanctions.

The Court now also specifically orders that, in all tag-along cases yet pending, fees in the amount prescribed by the May 7 order are to be paid to lead and former liaison counsel within twenty-one days of dismissal due to settlement or the entry of final judgment, to be paid by the party responsible for the payment of counsel fees under the terms of the settlement or of the judgment. So that lead and liaison counsel are informed of the ultimate termination of each tag-along case, even after remand by this Court, the Court orders the parties to notify lead and former liaison counsel within three days of the termination of a tag-[669]*669along action, whether by settlement or judgment; in the case of settlement, this notice shall include a sworn statement setting forth the settlement amount and signed by all parties to the settlement. Failure to timely pay fees as required by the instant and May 7 orders can be raised by lead or former liaison counsel in the transferor court, which can take the steps it deems appropriate and necessary to redress the violation of this Court’s orders.

3. Potential Future Expenses of Lead Counsel. The order entered herewith taxes Charles Thompson’s expenses incurred as lead counsel through April 1991, his expenses incurred as liaison counsel through May 1991, and all of David Purcell’s expenses incurred as former liaison counsel. As the Court nears the issuance of its suggestion of remand, which will initiate the process of remanding the remaining tag-alongs to their transferor courts, the Court will issue an order calling for lead counsel’s final statement of expenses. The Court will then issue an appropriate order taxing those final expenses proportionately among the remaining tag-along plaintiffs.

4. Requests for Documents, etc. from Lead Counsel After Remand. Lead counsel asks the Court to order that plaintiffs must pay for any copies of documents or videotapes they seek from lead counsel after remand. After remand of these actions, lead counsel will have been discharged by the Court from his appointed position. The Court expects that lead counsel will remain cooperative with plaintiffs’ counsel and be willing to provide them with copies of discovery items he has accumulated in his role as lead counsel.

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Bluebook (online)
137 F.R.D. 665, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11025, 1991 WL 136853, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-chrysler-motors-corp-moed-1991.