Opinion ID: 1349586
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Presence or Absence of Substantial Objections

Text: The District Court found it remarkable that there were so few objections to the settlement terms and to the fees requested by counsel, given the approximately six million class members in the MDL. Diet Drugs, 553 F.Supp.2d at 473. By the Court's count, fewer than thirty objections to the Settlement Agreement, eleven objections to the interim joint fee petition, and only four objections to the final joint fee petition were filed. Id. Valori claims that it was clear error for the District Court to rely so heavily on the absence of objections to the final joint fee petition because the Major Filers, some of whom had vigorously contested the interim petition, agreed not to object. In essence, according to Valori, the Class Counsel improperly influenced this factor through their Agreement with the Major Filers, and the Court should not have considered it. [36] Valori overstates the Court's reliance on the lack of objections. In fact, the Court explicitly declared that [t]he paucity of objections filed in response to the original and renewed petitions for attorneys' fees and costs does not necessarily establish that the requests in the Joint Petition are proper. Indeed, some objectors may not have been forthcoming because this court is obligated to exercise its inherent authority to assure that the amount and mode of payment of attorneys' fees are fair and proper ... independently of any objection. Diet Drugs, 553 F.Supp.2d at 474 (quoting Cendant PRIDES, 243 F.3d at 730). Valori also fails to recognize the breadth of the Court's analysis. Whatever weight the Court gave to this factor it gave based on the dearth of objections throughout the settlement and fee adjudication process, instead of focusing only on the objections to the final joint fee petition. Finally, Valori distorts the effect of the agreement between Class Counsel and the Major Filers. The record indicates that only one Major Filer objected to the interim fee petition, and there is nothing but Valori's argument, unsupported by evidence, that suggests that more of the Major Filers would have objected to the final petition absent the agreement. In short, Valori's contention leaves us unpersuaded that the District Court erredclearly or otherwisein its consideration of this factor.