Separate State Fee Pools Calculation. Determine each Litigating Subdivision’s percentage share of all amounts due under contingency fee contracts statewide by dividing the Contingency Fee Assumption calculated for each Subdivision in paragraph 2.b by the sum of all Contingency Fee Assumptions in the same State. Then multiply that percentage by the portion of the Contingency Fee Fund that corresponds to that State’s Overall Allocation Percentage, shown in Exhibit F of the relevant Settlement Agreement, to figure each Subdivision’s dollar share of the Contingency Fee Fund (but only for Settling Defendants the Subdivision timely named in a lawsuit). Illustrative example for Distributor Settlement Agreement: • 1% * $516,923,077.32 = $5,169,230.77 [amount of the Contingency Fee Fund corresponding to State A] 23 Because a few Litigating Subdivisions named only one or two of the Distributors in a lawsuit before January 1, 2021, each Subdivision’s share of the Contingency Fee Fund is slightly different for each distributor. Therefore, under the Distributor Settlement Agreement, the calculations described in this step need to be made separately for each Settling Defendant. It is shown in a single calculation here for ease of illustration only.
Separate State Fee Pools Calculation. Determine each Litigating Subdivision’s percentage share of all amounts due under contingency fee contracts statewide by dividing the Contingency Fee Assumption calculated for each Subdivision in paragraph 2.b by the sum of all Contingency Fee Assumptions in the same State. Then multiply that percentage by the portion of the Contingency Fee Fund that corresponds to that State’s Overall Allocation Percentage, shown in Exhibit F of the relevant Settlement Agreement, to figure each Subdivision’s dollar share of the Contingency Fee Fund. Illustrative example: • 1% * $195,364,179.86 = $1,953,641.80 [amount of the Contingency Fee Fund corresponding to State A] • Assume a total of $6,000,000 is owed under contingency fee contracts for State A. • $220,000 [from para. 2.b] ÷ $6,000,000 = 3.6666667% • 3.6666667% * $1,953,641.80 = $71,633.53 6 In this example, $500 million is the amount theoretically owed under all contingency fee contracts for litigation against Released Entities as calculated in paragraph 2.b. This amount is illustrative only; the actual amount will not be known until all litigating subdivisions are identified and the terms of all of their contingency fee contracts are collected. January 26, 2022 The award of fees to Attorneys with Qualifying Representations of Participating Litigating Subdivisions will be the average of the final amounts calculated in paragraphs 3.a and 3.b above less any amounts the Fee Panel is authorized to, and does, withhold.7 Paragraph 3.a represents allocation based on a proportional share of a National Fee Pool, while paragraph 3.b represents allocation based on a proportional share of the Separate State Fee Pools. In other words, for the National Fee Pool described above in paragraph 3.a, the contingency fee contract rate is compared to all other contingency fee contract rates in the nation. For the Separate State Fee Pools described above in paragraph 3.b, the contingency fee contract terms are compared to the other contingency fee contract terms in that same State. The National Fee Pool and the Separate State Fee Pools are given equal weighting. This is illustrated below.
