The Fee Panel issued Preliminary Recommended Awards for Common Benefit Fees on February 29, 2024 via the Rubris Crosslink system. Applicants can view their Preliminary Recommended Award and may accept or object to it by logging into their Crosslink application and following the instructions.
The MDL Court has appointed the Fee Panel to administer the Common Benefit Funds as provided in Exhibit R of the National Opioid Settlements. Below you will find information and links to documents for counsel seeking to apply for attorneys’ fees from the Common Benefit Funds. Pursuant to FPO No. 24, the Fee Panel will issue each applicant to the Common Benefit Funds established under the National Settlement Agreements listed below a single common benefit fee award:
COMMON BENEFIT FUNDS APPLICATION PROCEDURES AND DOCUMENTS
Eligibility
Attorneys engaged in Qualifying Representations of Participating Litigating Subdivisions or Qualified Tribal Representations of Tribal Participating Governments, as defined in Exhibit R to the Settlement Agreements, may be eligible for an award of attorneys’ fees from the Global Common Benefit Fund, if those Attorneys: (1) performed work for the common benefit of all Participating Subdivisions and/or Tribal Nations pursuant to the guidelines set forth in the Fee and Expense Order, as amended by the Fee Committee Order; and (2) satisfy the eligibility criteria set forth in Exhibit R, Section II.G. MDL Participating Counsel not engaged in Qualifying Representations of Participating Litigating Subdivisions or Tribal Participating Governments but who performed work for the common benefit pursuant to authorization from MDL Co-Lead Counsel and who meet the eligibility criteria in Exhibit R.II.G are also eligible to apply.
Prior Distributors/Janssen Common Benefit Fund Applicants
Counsel who applied for common benefit fees under the Distributors/Janssen Settlement will receive a notification from Crosslink to complete the Supplemental Application. This notice will be sent mid-July 2023. Applicants shall log in to their Common Benefit Application in Crosslink and complete the Supplemental Application no later than Friday, August 25, 2023.
If you already have Crosslink credentials for the Common Benefit Fund Application, click HERE to access your Supplemental Application task.
New Common Benefit Funds Applicants
The Fee Panel has engaged Rubris Inc. to process Common Benefit Funds Applications for the National Opioids Settlements through its Crosslink system. To request access to the secure application system, you must send an email to CrosslinkSupport@rubris.com and provide the law firm, name, and email address for each individual requiring access to the application. At least one attorney must be specified as the account administrator for the law firm and should be identified in the request. Please use the following Email subject: Request for Access to Common Benefit Application. Applicants must obtain separate access for each Fund application to which they wish to apply (Contingency Fee Funds, Common Benefit Funds, and Cost Funds).
Application Exemplar
An exemplar of the Supplemental Application can be downloaded by clicking on the link below.
Note: The Supplemental Application exemplar is provided to Applicants as a courtesy, to allow them to begin collecting necessary information. Submission of the Supplemental Application must be done through Crosslink, and the actual application format is subject to change.
Mandatory Financial Information Spreadsheet
All Counsel who applied for a common benefit fee award under the Distributors/Janssen Settlement Agreement must now submit a Financial Information Spreadsheet in their Crosslink application. This is true even if counsel is not seeking additional common benefit fees for work performed after June 2021. The Financial Information Spreadsheet and Instructions can be downloaded by clicking on the links below. Completed Financial Information Spreadsheets must be submitted in Crosslink no later than Friday, August 25, 2023.
Mandatory Time Reports
Each applicant who submits a Supplemental Application to the Common Benefit Funds must also submit a Time Report for work performed through June 2023 to the Auditor at OpioidTimeReport@amylcollinspc.com. Click on the link below to download the Time Report template and Billing Guide.
MDL Participating Counsel who are under an ongoing obligation to submit their monthly common benefit time to the Auditor pursuant to the Common Benefit Order (Doc. 358) shall not resubmit their time to the Auditor. The above Time Report template should only be used by: (1) non-MDL Participating Counsel; and (2) MDL Participating Counsel submitting non-MDL time.
ORDERS AND DOCUMENTS