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are set forth in a "Consent Decree Regarding Monetary Relief,
Instatement Relief, and Notice".
Among other things, the consent decree made provision for
the claimants to litigate the amount of damages awardable under
the decree. However, such damages were to be limited to "(1)
back pay, (2) front pay, (3) prejudgment interest, (4)
postjudgment interest, and (5) reasonable attorney fees and
costs."
The District Court referred the litigation to Judge Eugene
Lynch as mediator. After September 24, 1991, under Judge Lynch,
State Farm and class action counsel began negotiations to reach a
possible settlement of the claims of individual litigants. As a
result of the negotiations, a Master Settlement Agreement was
reached on January 17, 1992. It provided a formula for the
computation of damages that State Farm would offer to each
claimant, who was free to accept or reject such offer.
On or about January 17, 1992, the District Court provided
petitioner with a document entitled "Communication of State
Farm's Settlement Offer", accompanied by a "Summary of Terms of
State Farm's Settlement Offer", which had been reviewed and
approved by Judge Lynch. Pursuant to the foregoing settlement
offer, State Farm offered petitioner $139,688 to release her
claims against State Farm. The offer was conditional upon
acceptance of State Farm's offers by at least 87.5 percent "of
the 821 Final Claimants represented by [class action counsel] to
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