Nearly five years after Blue Cross Blue Shield agreed to settle a major antitrust case for $2.7 billion, a dispute has emerged over the attorney fees allocated to law firms involved in the case. A group of smaller law firms is challenging Louisiana-based Pendley, Baudin & Coffin, claiming they have not received their fair share of a $667 million fee award.
The dispute centers on the portion of the fee designated for Pendley, which is alleged to be approximately $13 million. Law firms including Gordon Ball LLC, the Dampier Law Firm, and McArthur Law LLC contend they had agreements with Pendley to receive a portion of its allocated fee. Gordon Ball, based in Knoxville, Tennessee, claims to have an agreement to receive half of Pendley’s share, while Dampier and McArthur law firms assert that they were promised a quarter of the fee.
These ongoing legal wranglings shed light on the complex process of distributing legal fees in class action cases, often governed by private agreements among firms. The settlements, which have been approved by U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor, followed Blue Cross’s 2020 agreement to resolve allegations that it overcharged its customers. The settlement was one of the largest in U.S. antitrust history and was finally concluded after years of litigation and objections.
The $667 million fee award was largely allocated to the lead firms, Boies Schiller Flexner and Hausfeld, but a significant portion was set aside for Pendley and other firms who participated in the case. Despite the majority of firms accepting the allocation, some have continued to raise objections. The U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling set the stage for the final distribution of fees, and Judge Proctor recently dismissed additional objections in a confidential December ruling.
Pendley and its partners have not yet responded to requests for comment, and attorneys for the other firms involved in the dispute have remained silent. While the complaints filed against Pendley are unlikely to challenge the overall apportionment process, they highlight the sometimes contentious nature of fee-sharing in large-scale class action cases.
In a related development, Blue Cross Blue Shield is also in the process of finalizing a separate $2.8 billion settlement with healthcare providers who claimed they were underpaid for reimbursements.
Read more: