Big Payday for Shareholder Suit Lawyers: Del. Chancery Court Awards $285M Attorney’s Fee

A near-record verdict for Southern Peru Copper Co. in a Delaware shareholder derivative suit has resulted in a monster payday for the company's counsel.

The $285 million earned by Pennsylvania-based Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check and Prickett, Jones & Elliott of Wilmington, Del., may be the highest amount ever awarded by Delaware's chancery court in such litigation, Reuters reports.

The plaintiff's lawyers had sought $428.2 million from the court. The defendant had suggested an attorney fee of less than $14 million.

Southern Peru was awarded $1.26 billion in October by the chancery court's chief judge, as detailed in an earlier ABAJournal.com post:

New Del. Chancery Chief Awards $1.26B in Stock Suit, Raps Wachtell Ex-Partner re ‘Unfair’ Valuation: