VW Defeats Appeal for Lawyer Fees for Pre-Diesel Settlement Work

Volkswagen AG doesn’t have to pay a Virginia attorney for pre-settlement work he did for diesel car owners because they released his liens in the $10 billion nationwide deal, the Ninth Circuit affirmed.

Several of James B. Feinman’s arguments “are nothing more than a belated objection to the settlement,” the panel said in an unpublished decision Monday.

“Volkswagen has disbursed the settlement funds to class members, and Feinman remains free to collect his fees from his clients,” the court said.

The settlement provided $10 billion to owners of nearly half a million vehicles containing devices to cheat diesel emissions tests.

Feinman filed cases on behalf of some consumers who later accepted the settlement. In 2018, he sued VW in state court to enforce charging liens against the company.

The federal district court overseeing the multidistrict litigation said in May 2019 that the deal released all claims of class members and their attorneys for fees or costs outside the settlement agreement. The release was essential to getting polluting cars off the road quickly, it said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in January 2019 that only attorneys chosen as class counsel in the consolidated litigation, and attorneys working on assignments from class counsel, were entitled to attorneys’ fees.

Feinman’s argument for pre-deal fees ran contrary to that holding and the text of the settlement’s release provision, the Ninth Circuit said.

Judges Johnnie B. Rawlinson, Mary H. Murguia, and Ryan D. Nelson served on the panel.

Feinman, of Lynchburg, Va., represented himself. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP represented VW.

The case is In re Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Mktg., Sales Practices, & Prods. Liab. Litig. (Feinman v. Volkswagen Grp. of Am., Inc.), 2020 BL 310572, 9th Cir., No. 19-16074, unpublished 8/17/20.