LEGAL PRINCIPLES GOVERNINGDISTRIBUTION OF CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENTSThe Special Master is guided by United States law and, in particular, theprecedents of this Court in devising a plan to distribute the $1.25 billion settlement agreed to bythe parties and approved by the Court in In re: Holocaust Victim Assets Litigation.1Courts inthe United States have adopted a number of equitable principles to guide the distribution of classaction settlements. The set of opinions which address the settlement in In re “Agent Orange”Product Liability Litigation, by both the United States District Court for the Eastern District ofNew York and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, clearly illustrate theseprinciples and provide leading authority on the equitable allocation of class action settlements inthis jurisdiction. Moreover, Agent Orange has significant underlying similarities to the presentlitigation. This Annex, which analyzes the legal principles that guide the allocation of classaction settlements, will therefore discuss in detail the Agent Orange decisions,as well as otherrelated case law on the subject of class action settlement distributions.2AGENT ORANGE LITIGATIONI.BackgroundThe plaintiffs in the Agent Orange class action litigation brought personal injuryclaims against a number of American herbicide manufacturers on behalf of United States, New196 Civ. 4849 (ERK) (MDG) (July 26, 2000, corrected August 2, 2000 E.D.N.Y.) (slip op.).2Of the numerous opinions issued in connection with the Agent Orange litigation, this analysis will
focus on the four which most fully address the principles which guided the settlement distribution: