Opinion ID: 1428164
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Attorneys' Fees for Cahn

Text: With respect to Cahn's application for fees, the District Court held that: [T]he efforts of Ms. Cahn did effectuate certain improvements in the Settlement Agreement which were ultimately of benefit to the class members, and . . . she is therefore entitled to a reasonable fee in the nature of quantum meruit, limited to the efforts actually directed towards achieving the benefits obtained. Equity requires fair treatment of one who confers a benefit, even where the actor has no standing and participates as an interloper or volunteer. In re: Medco Health Solutions, Inc., 2004 WL 1243873, at . On appeal, Cahn claims that the District Court abused its discretion by awarding her a fee based upon the theory of quantum meruit instead of a percentage of recovery. We disagree. The District Court correctly observed that Cahn was never the attorney for the plaintiff class or the attorney of record for any settling Plaintiff who belonged to the class. Cahn neither created the class action settlement nor induced Medco to accept it. Moreover, Cahn's assistance was limited to fine tuning of provisions and documents after the Settlement had been agreed to in principle. Id. at . The District Court made extensive findings with respect to Cahn's time and efforts in the case and concluded that the majority did not ultimately benefit the settlement fund. Id. at . In light of the District Court's thorough analysis of Cahn's involvement in this case, we discern no abuse of discretion in the resulting award.