Opinion ID: 685182
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Class Counsel Appellants

Text: 36 The district court also held that all class counsel except H & R should be compensated at their lodestar rate only--i.e., without any enhancement or multiplier. The court based this conclusion on its own factual finding that all such counsel are considered as lawyers contracting for particular assignments. Mem Op. & Order at 15, Appellants' J.A. at 1519. We review this factual finding by the district court for clear error. 37 We hold that the district court clearly erred in concluding that all class counsel except H & R are contract lawyers, susceptible to different treatment from H & R. The orders appointing H & R and the Class Counsel Appellants as counsel for the class made no such distinction between them. See Orders Designating Additional Counsel, Appellants' J.A. at 103-04, 104A. All class counsel were equally at risk of nonpayment if they lost the case. Robert Hill has given no indication that he viewed other class counsel as mere contract lawyers. See Hill Affidavit, Appellants' J.A. at 399-440. 11 The special master made no findings relating to any different status or conduct by various class counsel, nor did the district court point to any evidence in the record supporting such a distinction. We therefore reject as clear error the award of a lower fee based upon such a distinction, and on remand all class counsel shall share the class counsel fee award, without any such distinction, except that the district court is free to make some reasonable allowance to H & R for its undertaking responsibility to act as lead counsel. We leave to the district court on remand to determine how the fee will be allocated among class counsel. 12