There are a number of ways that class action attorneys’ fees have been paid. It can either be an amount that is negotiated, so the defendant pays attorneys’ fees, or if it’s a lump settlement, then the attorney’s fees can be paid out of that lump settlement. But in every scenario, the attorneys have to file a motion asking for approval of the settlement being fair and reasonable.
The attorneys also have to ask for the court to award the attorney’s fees, and they have to justify the attorneys’ fees in the motion. And every expense I’ve ever had in the request is carefully scrutinized by the court. It’s not just a rubber-stamp