Whirlpool Gets $14.8 Million Fee Award Tossed by Ninth Circuit

Whirlpool Corp. won’t have to pay $14.8 million in attorneys’ fees as part of a class settlement resolving claims over dishwasher control boards after the Ninth Circuit said Tuesday the district court incorrectly applied the lodestar method to what the appeals court concluded was at least in part a coupon settlement.

The Class Action Fairness Act requires a percentage-of-value methodology be used when calculating fees for coupon settlements in federal court, the court said. And the law’s plain language is clear that its provisions governing fees’ “apply to any class action case in federal court, including those based on diversity...