Wine and Roses, Part II: District Court Initiates Disciplinary Proceedings Following Class Counsel's Improper Expense Requests

A few months ago, we wrote about an interim decision in Plumbers Union Local No. 12 Pension Fund v. Ambassadors Group Inc., No. CV-09-214-JLQ, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26232 (E.D. Wash. Feb. 28, 2012), in which Judge Quackenbush of the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Washington was contemplating disciplinary action against class counsel for an attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses request that included expenses for wine, first class airline tickets, and expensive hotel bills. You can read that previous blog here. Following class counsel’s response to Judge Quackenbush’s “Interim Memorandum” of February 2012, the Court recently issued an order - Plumbers Union Local No. 12 Pension Fund v. Ambassadors Group Inc., No. CV-09-214-JLQ, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73297 (E.D. Wash. May 25, 2012) - indicating that it will sanction class counsel and reduce the lodestar in this matter.

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