Bartz Class Counsel filed their motion for attorneys’ fees. The hearing is not until April 23, 2026 and will be before a different judge if Judge Alsup retires at the end of this year as he suggested.
Class Counsel are seeking “20% of the non-reversionary Settlement Fund, consisting of $1.5 billion plus interest paid by Anthropic or accrued in the Settlement Fund.” If I understand this sentence correctly, that equals $300 million.
Class Counsel notes: “Because Anthropic is paying the Settlement in installments over time, Class Counsel commits to taking its fee only on the portion of the money that has been paid into the fund, not on outstanding payments.” p. 11.
The Class Counsel argue the amount (20%) is conservative compared to some other megafund cases as listed in their chart:
EXCERPT OF THE FEES SOUGHT BY CLASS COUNSEL
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
DOWNLOAD THE MOTION OF CLASS COUNSEL
DOWNLOAD ATTACHMENT 7 Declaration of Prof. Brian T. Fitzpatrick
DOWNLOAD ATTACHMENT 8 Declaration of Prof. William B. Rubenstein