In Re Gypsum Cases

ORDER DIRECTING PAYMENT OF ATTORNEYS’ FEES

After duly noticed evidentiary hearings held on April 22, 23 and 25, 1974, the court is prepared to fix and direct the payment of attorneys’ fees in this antitrust litigation, in which, probably more than in any other such litigation, the congressional objective of private antitrust enforcement was realized. To achieve this result it took seven years of vigorously contested litigation involving a nationwide price fixing conspiracy on the part of the major manufacturers of gypsum products — litigation initiated and prosecuted throughout all these years without benefit of any governmental assistance whatsoever.

Under such circumstances, the attorneys for their able and arduous efforts in litigation involving complex and novel issues of substantial magnitude and doubtful success and undertaken at substantial financial risk on a contingency basis are clearly entitled to reasonable attorneys’ fees commensurate with the benefits conferred upon purchasers of gypsum products. The purchasers of such products who benefited from this litigation might otherwise have been denied any protection or benefit whatsoever, since their claims individually…