Originally published on Slaw by litigator Matt Maurer.
An Ontario Superior Court judge has approved the payment of $31.2 million in class counsel's legal fees in the Volkswagen "dieselgate" class action.
The legal fees comprise $26 million in fees, just under $1 million in disbursements and taxes of approximately $3.5 million.
The Canadian class action itself settled with the defendants agreeing to pay the class $2.1 billion. The U.S. class action settled for just over $10 billion.
It is noteworthy that the amount of legal fees agreed upon in the Canadian class action was over and above the amount of the $2.1 billion settlement. In other words, the class members did not have to take a haircut in order for the lawyers to receive their fees.
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