On Friday, the Third Circuit vacated and remanded a U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey decision granting summary judgment to New Jersey personal injury firm Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman and two of its attorneys, who represented the plaintiffs in multidistrict litigation (MDL) consolidated in the New Jersey district court. Following the settlement, the defendants received contingency fees and a common benefit fee award, which some of their clients challenged as an unlawful double payment. The former clients and defendants disputed whether the case belonged in state court, where it was initially filed, or federal court, where the defendants had removed it.
