Aberin v. American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

After the class-action settlement in an automobile defect class action, defendant American Honda appealed the award of attorney fees. The company argued that the district court abused its discretion by awarding fees that exceed the monetary benefit to the class.

Public Citizen filed an amicus brief supporting affirmance of a district court’s award. The brief explains that consumer-protection statutes with fee-shifting provisions, combined with the class action device, serve the public interest by ensuring that consumers who suffer small harms can access the courts to vindicate their rights and deter corporate misconduct. In cases that rest on statutes with fee-shifting provisions intended to address a market failure, lodestar-based attorneys’ fees reasonably may exceed the monetary benefit to the class, and applying a rule of proportionality or using the value of the class recovery to assess the reasonableness of the fee award would discourage private enforcement of consumer-protection statutes, encourage defense tactics that increase plaintiffs’ litigation costs, and effectively insulate corporate misconduct from challenge.