With settlements in the US OSB antitrust case now totalling US$120.73m, the plaintiffs’ lawyers could earn as much as US$39m, reports Law.com.
In the weeks following a fairness hearing in Philadelphia in November 2008, US district judge Paul S Diamond was expected to decide the size of the fees to be awarded to the lawyers.
In the suit, direct and indirect purchasers accused nine OSB companies, which they say control 95% of the North American OSB market, of conspiring to raise OSB prices in June 2002 by reducing supply.
The suit alleged the defendants kept OSB from the market through mill shutdowns and by delaying or cancelling the construction of new OSB mills.
Judge Diamond also ordered the lawyers to complete the case without acrimony after a dispute arose between the firm acting as co-lead counsel, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, and one of its former partners Michael D. Hausfeld who was ousted from the firm on November 6, 2008.
