Vita-Mix Gets $3.9 Million Fee Award Tossed in Blender Suit

Vita-Mix won its bid to vacate a $3.9 million fee award to class counsel in a years-old lawsuit over defective blenders, after the Sixth Circuit said Wednesday that the high hourly rates and 75% bump over the standard hourly rate didn’t appear to be justified.

The blender maker lost its argument that the Class Action Fairness Act prohibits use of the lodestar methodology in the context of a coupon settlement, with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit joining several other circuits in ruling that the fees’ calculation is allowed.

But the court agreed that the U.S. District ...