By: Derek Hawkins//August 25, 2015//
Civil
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Officials: FLAUM, WILLIAMS, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges
Class Action – Coupon Settlement
Nos. 13-3264; 13-3462; 14-2591; 14-2602; 14-2495
In Re: Southwest Airlines Voucher Litigation
Class Action Fairness Act allows district court to award class counsel an attorney fee based on the lodestar method rather than the value of the redeemed coupons.
“Under Markow’s approach, also adopted by the Ninth Circuit majority in HP Inkjet, subsection (c) seems to become surplusage. If subsection (a) requires use of percentage-of-coupons-used for any fee award based on coupons, and if subsection (b) requires use of lodestar for non-coupon relief, as Markow argues, that leaves nothing for subsection (c) to do other than repeat subsection (a) and (b). “[T]he canon against surplusage is strongest when an interpretation would render superfluous another part of the same statutory scheme.” Marx, 133 S. Ct. at 1178. The approach we adopt, also taken by the district court and by Judge Berzon in HP Inkjet, gives all three subsections different roles to play. Subsection (a) prohibits basing a percentage-of-recovery fee on the face value of all coupons made available. Subsection (b) says that lodestar is the only permissible alternative to percentage-of-coupons-used. And subsection (c) allows, though does not require, a blend of the two methods when a coupon settlement also provides some equitable or cash relief”
Affirmed