Elizabeth Morrison v. Ray Berry, CA No. 12808-VCG

Plaintiff Elizabeth Morrison was the lead plaintiff in a class action settlement; the Court approved the settlement and attorneys’ fees but reserved ruling on Morrison’s request for a $5,000 incentive award.
Delaware law presumes reluctance to award class representatives beyond out-of-pocket costs; incentive awards are permitted only in exceptional cases to compensate for extraordinary time, expertise, or burdens borne by the representative.
The Court considers the representative’s specific time, effort, and expertise (not the benefit to the class) when evaluating incentive requests.
The opinion cites prior Delaware Chancery awards where plaintiffs who spent hundreds to thousands of hours (and contributed specialized expertise or pivotal documents) received substantial bonuses.
Morrison’s participation consisted principally of reviewing pleadings and ordinary litigant activities; counsel conceded she did not perform extraordinary tasks beyond what is expected of typical litigants.
The Court concluded that awarding the requested incentive would depart from Delaware precedent and create an inappropriate incentive, and therefore denied the $5,000 award.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Morrison should receive a $5,000 incentive award from the attorneys’ fee fund	Morrison sought a modest $5,000 payment for serving as lead plaintiff over several years	Settlement parties/counsel and the Court noted Morrison performed only ordinary litigant tasks and did not provide exceptional time/expertise	Denied — incentive awards are rare and require exceptional contribution beyond ordinary participation

Brinckerhoff v. Texas Eastern Products Pipeline Co., LLC, 986 A.2d 370 (Del. Ch. 2010) (lead plaintiff who spent ~1,000 hours assisting litigation was awarded $100,000)