Supreme Court of Delaware

In a dispute involving the award of attorney's fees in a class action suit, district court judgment is affirmed where: 1) the pendency of a derivative action does not preclude the stockholders from bringing a direct action and thus there was no error in granting class certification; and 2) the court did not err in awarding attorney's fees to defendant's counsel as counsel conferred a monetary and therapeutic benefit, the award took into account the presence of derivative plaintiffs in assessing the risk to counsel, and the relevant factors weigh in favor of a substantial fee award.

Appellate Information

• Decided 07/23/2009
• Published 07/23/2009

Judges

• BERGER, Justice:, Before BERGER, JACOBS and RIDGELY, Justices.

Court

• Supreme Court of Delaware

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Christopher D. Loizides Esquire, Loizides, P.A., Wilmington, DE, for Defendant-Below, Appellant Loral Space & Communications Inc., Brett D. Fallon, Esquire, Fotini A. Antoniadis, Esquire, Morris James, LLP, Wilmington, for Defendant-Below, Appellant Michael B. Targoff., Of Counsel:  Jay P. Lefkowitz, Esquire (argued), Eric F. Leon, Esquire, Matthew Solum, Esquire, Kirkland & Ellis, LLP, New York City;  Leonard A. Rodes, Esquire, Trachtenberg Rodes & Friedberg, LLP, New York City, for Defendants-Below, Appellants., Kevin G. Abrams, Esquire, J. Travis Laster, Esquire (argued), T. Brad Davey, Esquire, Eric D. Selden, Esquire, Abrams & Laster, LLP, Wilmington, DE, for Plaintiffs-Below, Appellees.