Opinion
CIVIL ACTION NO. 05-4191 SECTION "B" (2)
10-29-2014
JARED VODANOVICH v. BOH BROTHERS CONSTRUCTION CO., LLC, ET AL.
REF: ALL CASES
FINAL JUDGMENT
Class Counsel's Motion for Award of Costs and Expenses (Rec. Doc. 227) was heard before this Court, without a jury, on October 29, 2014 at 9:00 a.m. For the reasons explained in this Court's Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law,
IT IS ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that Class Counsel's Motion is GRANTED and that the Court finds costs, totaling $13,287,530.00, necessary given the nature and size of this complex, hard fought litigation and reasonable in amount, and therefore, awards the Levee Litigation Group and the MR-GO Litigation Group, jointly, $3,500,000.00, the maximum allowable costs and expenses, which non-taxable litigation costs the Court finds justified, reasonable and necessarily appropriate.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the members of the Levee Litigation Group and the MR-Go Litigation Group are encouraged to come to an agreement on how the monies will be divided among the two groups, and the individual members of each respective group. The Court reserves the right to reduce the $3,500,000.00 award if the members of these groups cannot come to an agreement on how the monies will be divided and/or reserves the right to select and appoint A. Shelby Easterly III as Special Master, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 53, and assign the Special Master with the task of allocating the award of $3,500,000.00 between the Levee Litigation Group and the MR-GO Litigation Group based on such criteria as the Special Master deems fair and equitable under the circumstances. In the event that the appointment of a Special Master is necessary, no party may communicate ex parte with the Special Master. In addition, the Special Master shall preserve all materials considered in making his determination, shall file his Report setting forth the basis for his determination, and shall submit electronically copies of those documents upon which his determination was based. The Special Master shall submit his Report within 90 days of the date of an Order appointing the Special Master. The Court shall review the Special Master's report on the basis of whether his findings and recommendations are clearly erroneous. The Special Master's fees and expenses shall be paid out of the fund of $3,500,000.00, and they shall be approved based on the Special Master's declaration setting forth the basis of the Special Master's fees and expenses.
New Orleans, Louisiana, this 29th day of October, 2014.
/s/_________
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE