Dead Fish

The Rocky Mountain News has an article on the $50 million settlement of the shareholder class action related to the merger of Qwest Communications and U.S. West. The Association of U.S. West Retirees challenged the proposed $15 million attorneys’ fees award (30% of the settlement), arguing that the case and settlement stunk “like a three-day-old unrefrigerated dead fish.” The district court judge, however, rejected the challenge. At the hearing, the court noted that there “weren’t any other lawyers in the United States that took the gamble that these people did – not one other law firm anywhere.”