LGN Attorneys File Amicus Brief on Behalf of COSAL

LGN attorneys Charles Nauen, Heidi Silton, Joe Bruckner, Kristen Marttila, and Justin Erickson, on behalf of the Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws (“COSAL”), filed an amicus brief supporting the petition for rehearing en banc in the Eleventh Circuit in Johnson v. NPAS Solutions, LLC. In Johnson, a divided panel categorically banned courts from granting service awards to class representatives.

In our brief, COSAL argued that service awards are necessary to recognize the significant time, risk, and expense that class representatives incur when they file suit, particularly when they challenge the conduct of large businesses with significant market power on behalf of their fellow competitors. Because competent, engaged class representatives are crucial to antitrust cases since they frequently proceed as class litigation, the viability of the class mechanism to redress wrongful conduct will be jeopardized if service awards are no longer available. COSAL urged the Eleventh Circuit to rehear the matter en banc and to reverse the panel opinion in recognition of the important role that service awards play in ensuring that class members have the benefit of informed and diligent class representatives.

The brief was co-signed by COSAL President Robert Kitchenoff. This is the second amicus brief filed under COSAL’s new amicus program, initiated earlier this year.

For more than thirty years, COSAL has promoted and supported the enactment, preservation, and enforcement of a strong body of antitrust laws in the United States, primarily through effective private enforcement. LGN is a founding member of COSAL and LGN lawyers have been instrumental in COSAL’s leadership and ongoing advocacy.