court did not take this possibility into account in reviewing the settlement’s fairness the first time around, we must vacate and remand the Approval Order as well, so that the court may appropriately factor this into its Rule 23(e) analysis. On remand, the district court should reconsider its approval of the settlement after recalculating a reasonable amount of fees for class counsel. Courts have long recognized that “settlement class actions present unique due process concerns for absent class members.” Hanlon, 150 F.3d at 1026. One inherent risk is that class counsel may collude with the defendants, “tacitly reducing the overall settlement in return for a higher attorney’s fee.” Knisley, 312 F.3d at 1125; see Evans v. Jeff D., 475 U.S. 717, 733, 106 S.Ct. 1531, 89 L.Ed.2d 747 (1986) (<HOLDING>); In re Gen. Motors, 55 F.3d at 805. To guard
holding that a district court may award attorneys fees while the merits are on appeal recognizing the possibility but denying relief recognizing that the possibility of a tradeoff between merits relief and attorneys fees is often implicit in class action settlement negotiations holding a settlement privilege exists as to thirdparty discovery of settlement negotiations holding that the party seeking contractual attorneys fees is entitled to a decision on the merits