Michael J. Rinis v. Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi, et al.

In this class action governed by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA)15 U.S.C §78u–4, the undisputed facts are:

1. Lead Plaintiff’s counsel Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP (BLB&G) entered into an ex ante Retention Agreement with the Mississippi Attorney General, on behalf of lead plaintiff, the Mississippi Public Employees’ Retirement System (MPERS), which provides for an attorney’s fee to be determined pursuant to a decreasing sliding scale percentage of the settlement res;

2. the attorney’s fee determined pursuant to the Retention Agreement is $88.98 million;

3. the district court, without mentioning the Retention Agreement, awarded BLB&G $212.4 million in attorney’s fees, which exceeds the Retention Agreement fee by $123.42 million;

4. following the petitioner’s appeal, the district court set a $55,000 F.R.App.P. rule 7 appeal bond; $5,000 for F.R.App.P. rule 39 costs and an additional $50,000 for the costs of delay;

5. petitioner paid $5,000 and appealed the unlawful $50,000;

6. the next summer, within 4 days of the issuance of the show cause order from the Third Circuit