On September 4, 2009, District Judge Rosenbaum entered an Order in the In re UnitedHealth Group Incorporated PSLRA Litigation, Case No. 06-CV-1691 (JMR/FLN) (D. Minn. Sep. 4, 2009), denying the petition of certain objectors to the settlement who argued that the Court’s reduction of attorney’s fees to class counsel from $110 million to $64.8 million was in part due to their objection. The Court soundly rejected this contention and had harsh words for objector’s counsel, stating:
“These objectors have contributed nothing. Instead, in a pleading which may charitably be described as disingenuous, Objectors’ Counsel argue they assisted the Court in finding class counsel’s fee request unreasonable. They claim their efforts convinced the Court to reduce class counsel’s fee from $110 million to $64.8 million. They have the temerity to suggest they are the ones who saved the class $45 million in attorney fees, entitling them to a six-figure fee of their own. Their suggestion is laughable. If the Court may be permitted an egregious paraphrase of Winston S. Churchill: Seldom in the field of securities litigation was so little owed by so many to so few….Their goal was, and is, to hijack as many dollars for themselves as they can wrest from a negotiated settlement. Objectors’ eight-page-long, two-week-late pleading presented no facts, offered no law, and raised no argument upon which the Court relied in its deliberation or ruling concerning class counsel’s motion for fees.”
(Emphasis added).
In re UnitedHealth Group Incorporated PSLRA Litigation, Case No. 06-CV-1691 (JMR/FLN), 2009 WL 2868399 (D. Minn. Sep. 4, 2009).
