Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín just issued the final approval of the historic $1.5 billion class action settlement in Bartz v. Anthropic.
The Judge approved the settlement but reduced the attorneys’ fee award from the requested $187.5 million to $101,561,111. Instead of the “a multiplier of 6.92 on Class Counsel’s estimated lodestar of $27,082,963” sought by Class Counsel, the Court determined “a multiplier of 3.75, for a total fee award of $101,561,111 is reasonable. See Kang v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 2021 WL 5826230, at *17 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 8, 2021) (citing Vizcaino, 290 F.3d at 1051 n.6) (observing that the “Ninth Circuit has recognized that multipliers generally range from 1 to 4”); cf. Gutierrez v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., No. C 07-05923 WHA, 2015 WL 2438274, at *7 (N.D. Cal. May 21, 2015) (awarding 5.5 multiplier where, among other things, class counsel tried the case and defended against two class appeals).”
Excerpt on the fairness of the settlement:
Excerpt from the Court’s Conclusion:
DOWNLOAD THE COURT’S FINAL APPROVAL:
