New Ninth Circuit class settlement opinion: Rodriguez v. Disner

You may remember that in 2009, the Ninth Circuit handed down an opinion approving the settlement in the BAR/BRI antitrust class action, but disapproving certain "ex ante incentive agreements" formed between some of the representative plaintiffs and their counsel.  Rodriguez v. West Publishing Corp., 563 F.3d 948 (9th Cir. 2009) (mentioned in this blog post). 

Last week, the Ninth Circuit considered the case again.  In Rodriquez v. Disner, ___ F.3d ___ (9th Cir. Aug. 10, 2012), the panel affirmed the district court's ruling that the attorneys who formed those incentive agreements had forfeited almost all of their fees, and reversed the district court's order denying fees to the objectors who were the first to bring the conflict of interest to the court's attention.