Record $508 Million Job Bias Settlement Gets No Fee Enhancements

A 45-year-old sex discrimination case against a federal agency finally concluded after a judge declined to enhance compensation for the plaintiffs’ attorneys above the level to which the parties previously agreed.

The “in all respects extraordinary” lawsuit, per Judge Amit P. Mehta’s past opinions, was filed on Nov. 25, 1977 against the US Information Agency and became the “largest Title VII sex discrimination class action settlement in United States history.” It involved more than 1,000 women allegedly passed over for hiring or promotions at the agency. The last several years of the case have involved negotiations between the ...