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“Attys Behind Performance Sports Deal Seek $3.6M In Fees,” Law360

December 5, 2022

Lawyers representing Performance Sports Group investors should be awarded $3.6 million for their work in securing a settlement in a proposed class action alleging PSG executives lied to shareholders about the now-bankrupt athletic gear manufacturer’s sales tactics, the attorneys told a New York federal court.

Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC said Friday that the $3.6 million fee award represents 28% of the total settlement value, putting it in line with what other courts in the Second Circuit have awarded to firms who’ve settled class actions for similar amounts. Cohen Milstein helped a proposed class of PSG shareholders obtain a $13 million settlement, which is awaiting final approval from the court.

“The requested fee is reasonable given the result obtained and is consistent with the fees awarded in similar actions in the Second Circuit and throughout the country,” the firm wrote in a motion for award of attorneys fees.

The firm added that the lead plaintiff in the class action, United Association National Pension Fund, or UANPF, supports the requested fee, and that no one from the class at large has objected to the amount.

Cohen Milstein also pointed to other factors supporting the award, including the “magnitude and complexity” of securities class actions, the quality of its representation and the risk the firm assumed in taking the case on a contingency basis.

“Despite competent efforts of lead counsel, success in contingent-fee litigation, such as this, is never assured,” the firm wrote.

In December, PSG investors told a New York federal court they’d struck a settlement that would see former CEO Kevin Davis and ex-CFO Amir Rosenthal pay $13 million in an all-cash deal, although that amount will be entirely funded by the company’s directors & officers insurance policy. The money will go to thousands of class members who purchased the company’s common stock between January 2015 and October 2016.

U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods granted preliminary approval for the proposed settlement agreement in July. UANPF, the lead class plaintiff, moved for final approval on Friday.

. . .

The proposed class is represented by Carol V. Gilden, S. Douglas Bunch and Steven J. Toll of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC and by Louis P. Malone III of O’Donoghue & O’Donoghue LLP.

Read the article on Law360.