Federal Judge Praises Attorneys In Class Action Settlement

Calling the resolution of a class action a "model for the nation" U.S. District Judge lavished praise on the class action lawyers -- both plaintiffs' and defense -- for their work. Here's a sampling of Judge Bennett's praise:

This case is a model for the nation that class actions can, indeed, work exactly as Congress and the federal courts intended-though they so rarely do. And while I would like to take some credit, even a scintilla of it, for the über-efficient way that this case proceeded from filing to settlement, that would be a fraud. Against all conventional wisdom that federal trial court judges must be very aggressive, hands-on case managers,I-after a modest nudge at our first conference-simply got out of the way of these superb lawyers and let them practice their craft, precisely the way it is intended. They placed their clients' best interests light years ahead of their own, which is exactly the way the practice of law is supposed to work, but, as we all know, so seldom does, especially in class actions.

In more than thirty-six years of lawyering and judging, I have never been prouder to be a lawyer/judge than when I observed the lawyers in this case plying their chosen craft. This case has been to me what it was like when I stood before da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Michelangelo's David, observing the great masters' works. I was overcome with a rare and gargantuan sense of awe that will likely last a lifetime.

The case is In re: Iowa Ready-Mix Concrete Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, N.D. Iowa. No. C-10-4038-MWB.