⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

A Roundup personal-injury lawsuit has settled, but a fight remains over the lawyers' fees. Although Monsanto appears in the case name, the two sides you will hear are arguing about compensation among lawyers on the plaintiffs' side. The underlying lawsuits alleged that Monsanto's weedkiller caused cancer. Many federal cases were brought before one judge for shared pretrial work through multidistrict litigation, or M D L. The cases remained individual lawsuits; an M D L is not automatically a class action. In 2021, Judge Vince Chhabria set a holdback of eight percent of a plaintiff's gross recovery for a common-benefit fund. Crucially, it was to come from the attorney-fee portion, not an additional deduction from the client's net recovery. The fund was meant to allow compensation for work benefiting other cases, but setting money aside did not guarantee that lead counsel would ultimately receive it. A January 2022 filing by both sides listed the Koen case as ready to return to the Western District of Texas. As you will hear, the appealing side says substantial individual litigation followed before settlement. Their position is that they were not free riders simply collecting the benefit of someone else's work. The dispute is whether shared work justifies the full assessment despite that later individual effort, and despite fees leadership lawyers earned from their own clients. A special master is a court-appointed person who can investigate issues and recommend a result. The judge may reject a recommendation; the question here includes whether the judge adequately explained his decision. You will also hear about Federal Rule Sixteen Point One. It calls for considering how leadership counsel should be compensated, but does not set an eight-percent fee. The panel will examine the source and limits of the court's authority, not just which division of money seems fair. Leslie Brueckner will argue first for the appellants, seeking a refund or reduced assessment. Robert Quigley will represent the leadership side, arguing that the shared work supplied essential parts of the individual case and that the judge's allocation should stand.

Koen v. Monsanto Company (No. 25-2762) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, argued October 22, 2026.