Attorneys representing a group of nonprofit organizations who have recently won a $125 million settlement from the U.S. government, regarding charges for using the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system (PACER), have made a significant request. The legal team has asked a federal judge in Washington, D.C. to assign around $23 million from the settlement fund as their legal fees.
The request is part of the outcome of a protracted legal battle over the alleged overcharges by PACER, a service that offers access to U.S. federal court documents. The central issue was whether the fees charged by PACER were excessively high, leading to the sizable settlement.
Although this may seem to be a hefty sum, it must be noted that it is somewhat customary for attorneys to claim a percentage of the settlement amount as their fees, particularly in high-stakes litigations such as this. However, the exact terms and rationales set forth by the attorneys for this request are yet to be publicly available.
Should the judge grant this request, it would earmark a significant portion of the settlement fund for the legal team, reducing the amount available for the non-profit organizations that formed the plaintiff group.
For further details regarding this legal development, you may refer to the original Law360 article.