Assuming the notice is believed to have merit there will be both the receiving companies’ legal fees and the Plaintiff’s attorney’s fees. How much will they be?
- An in-depth review of 1000’s of these cases shows the Private Enforcer’s (or Plaintiff) law firm will likely charge three times the average settlement amount. The average settlement amount is $40,000 over the five years from 2012 to 2017.
- The defendant companies’ law firm will typically charge between 1/3 to 2/3’s of the fees of the Plaintiff firm depending greatly on the billing rates and number of attorney’s involved.
- There may also be charges for testing, which can range from under a $1,000 to tens of thousands of dollars
- Overall, attorney’s fees will average 75% of the costs with civil penalties making up 14% of the cost and other payments constituting the rest.
- As a result, overall costs of a settlement average well over $100,000 per occurrence.
- These average costs apply to pre-trial settlement situations or more often settlements agreed before the actual lawsuit itself is filed.
- The civil penalties under Prop 65 can be as high $2,500 per day, per product.
- Over the past six years civil penalties alone have ranged from $4,500 to over $1,000,000
- Injunctive relief has included recall of all affected products, reformulation of products and in some cases, consumer assistance with removal of products the that present a continuing harm.
- If the claim is believed to have no merit, the cost will remain for defendant’s attorney’s fees, likely greater levels of testing and expert determinations of exposure levels. The benefits of a successful defense are:
- Prevention of further claims related to that listed chemical for the products that were part of the Notice or Lawsuit.
- The ability to continue to sell the product and keep existing product in the marketplace.