Opinion ID: 769936
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Discovery of Class Counsel's Contemporaneous Time Records

Text: 23 Havird contends discovery of class counsel's contemporaneous time records would reveal whether the settlement and class counsel's fee and cost award are fair. As discussed above, we do not have jurisdiction to consider Havird's challenge to the district court's approval of the settlement. Thus, we will consider only whether the district court abused its discretion by denying Havird's request for discovery of class counsel's contemporaneous time records as that request relates to the final January 1999 fee and cost award. 24 We decline to adopt a rule that a district court must grant a request for discovery of contemporaneous time records in every case in which attorney fees are sought. Such a rule would impose on district courts, as well as litigants, a rigid process in which nondiscretionary enforcement could prove to be of little benefit. Moreover, in the present case, Havird appears to have been a spoiler, but more importantly she failed to show any legitimate need for the records she sought. The district court did not err in denying Havird's request for discovery of class counsel's contemporaneous time records.