A common-benefit fund is a pool, created from assessments on settlements or judgments in a consolidated litigation, that pays lawyers who did work benefiting all plaintiffs. It reduces what individual firms and their funders receive from each claim.
In multidistrict litigation, leadership counsel perform work for the whole docket. The court orders a percentage assessment on recoveries to compensate that work, so each firm's net fee is lower than the gross fee in its contracts.
A funder lending against fees in such a proceeding needs the assessment rate, the timing and the order of payment. Ignoring them overstates the realizable amount.
A common-benefit fund is not a settlement fund for claimants. It compensates counsel for shared work and is a deduction from fees.
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