United States Third Circuit

In determining whether the retainer agreement between the lead plaintiff and lead counsel calls for excessive fees, the court should first use the Gunter factors to evaluate it, but if the court cannot otherwise come to a resolution, it can consider a lodestar cross-check.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/28/2001
• Published 08/28/2001

Judges

• Before BECKER, Chief Judge, SLOVITER and AMBRO, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Third Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Howard B. Sirota (Argued), Sirota & Sirota, New York, NY, Counsel for Appellant Joanne A. Aboff Family Trust., Edward W. Cochran (Argued), Cochran & Cochran, Shaker Heights, OH, Frank H. Tomlinson,Pritchard, McCall & Jones, Birmingham, AL, Paul S. Rothstein, Gainesville, FL, Counsel for Appellant Betty Duncan., C. Benjamin Nutley (Argued), Kendrick & Nutley, Beverly Hills, CA, Richard Galex, Galex, Tortoreti & Tomes, Brunswick, NJ, Counsel for Appellant Tere Throenle., Gerald W. Palmer (Argued), Ricky L. Shackelford, Eugenia L. Castruccio, Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, Los Angeles, CA, Counsel for Appellants Robert and Janice Davidson., Lawrence W. Schonbrun (Argued), Law Office of Lawrence W. Schonbrun, Berkeley, CA, Counsel for Appellant Faye Schonbrunn., John Halebian (Argued), Wechsler, Harwood, Halebian & Feffer, Kenneth A. Elan, Law Offices of Kenneth A. Elan, New York, NY, Counsel for Appellant Ann Mark., Michael D. Hess, Leonard J. Koerner, Lorna B. Goodman, Elizabeth S. Natrella (Argued), Leslie Conason, Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, New York City Law Department, New York, NY, Counsel for Appellants New York City Pension Funds., David M. Becker, General Counsel, Meyer Eisenberg, Deputy General Counsel, Eric Summergrad, Deputy Solicitor, Luis De La Torre (Argued), Special Counsel, Nathan A. Forrester, Senior Counsel Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington, DC, Counsel for Amicus Curiae Securities and Exchange Commission., Joseph A. Grundfest, The William A. Franke Professor of Law and Business, Stanford Law School, Stanford, CA, Melanie M. Piech, Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, San Francisco, CA, Counsel for Amicus Curiae Barclays Global Investors, N.A., Franklin Resources, Inc., New Hampshire Retirement System and Public Employees' Retirement Association of Colorado.


• For Appellees:
  
• Max W. Berger, Daniel L. Berger (Argued), Jeffrey N. Leibell, Bernstein, Litowitz, Berger, & Grossman, LLP, New York, NY, Leonard Barrack, Gerald J. Rodos, Jeffrey W. Golan, Barrack, Rodos, & Bacine, Philadelphia, PA, Counsel for Appellees California Public Employees' Retirement System, New York State Common Retirement Fund and The New York City Pension Funds., Arthur R. Miller (Argued), Cambridge, MA, Counsel for Appellees Barrack, Rodos, & Bacine and Bernstein, Litowitz, Berger & Grossmann, LLP., Alan N. Salpeter (Argued), Michele Odorizzi, Caryn L. Jacobs, Mayer, Brown & Platt, Chicago, IL, Douglas S. Eakley, Peter L. Skolnik, Lowenstein, Sandler, PC, Roseland, NJ, Kathryn A. Oberly, Robert G. Cohen, William P. Hammer, Jr., Ernst & Young, LLP, New York, NY, Counsel for Appellee Ernst & Young, LLP., Carl Greenberg, Michael M. Rosenbaum, Budd, Larner, Gross, Rosenbaum, Greenberg & Sade, Short Hills, NJ, Samuel Kadet, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, New York, NY, Counsel for Appellee Cendant Corporation., Herbert J. Stern, Stern, Greenberg & Kilcullen, Roseland, NH, Counsel for Appellee James E. Buckman.