Fifth Circuit strikes down fee allocation involving ex parte hearing featuring prominent member of Katrina Litigat

I read this recent opinion from the Fifth Circuit about a fee allocation among plaintiffs' counsel in a class acton settlement. The case was of interest to me because it involves Don Barrett, of tobacco litigation and Scruggs(less) Katrina Group fame, and if you remember, a fee dispute among Scruggs Katrina Group firms is what touched off the Judge Lackey bribery plot allegedly involving Dickie Scruggs. In addition, the ethics of the Katrina Litigation Group, as it is now known, are being challenged by State Farm in several Katrina cases. Here's one of the latest posts that has information about that. Finally, I was interested because of the fact the opinion was written by Chief Judge Edith Jones, who chewed out Dickie Scruggs last year during oral argument in the Leonard v. Natio