Chun v. Bd. of Trustees of ERS

Opinion of the Court by

LEVINSON, J.

In the present appeal, we are asked to reconsider Montalvo v. Chang, 64 Haw. 345, 641 P.2d 1321 (1982). In Montalvo, we adopted the “lodestar” method of awarding-attorney’s fees to plaintiffs’ counsel in class action litigation where the recovery has resulted in the creation of a common fund from which the attorney’s fees are drawn. 1 Montalvo, 64 Haw. at 361-62, 641 P.2d at 1332. The central question presented herein is whether the circuit court possessed and should have exercised the discretion to award attorney’s fees based on a percentage of the common…