878
Breyer, J., dissenting
findings made by the District Court and affirmed by the Court of Appeals as legally sufficient. See supra, at 868.
B
I similarly believe that the second condition is satisfied. The "claimants . . . were treated equitably among themselves." Ante, at 839. The District Court found equitable treatment, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. But a majority of this Court now finds significant inequities arising out of class counsel's "egregious" conflict of interest, the settle-ment's substantive terms, and the District Court's failure to create subclasses. See ante, at 854-859. But nothing I can find in the Court's opinion, nor in the objectors' briefs, convinces me that the District Court's findings on these matters were clearly erroneous, or that the Court of Appeals went seriously astray in affirming them.
The District Court made 76 separate findings of fact, for example, in respect to potential conflicts of interest. App. to Pet. for Cert. 392a-430a. Of course, class counsel consisted of individual attorneys who represented other asbestos claimants, including many other Fibreboard claimants outside the certified class. Since Fibreboard had been settling cases contingent upon resolution of the insurance dispute for several years, any attorney who had been involved in previous litigation against Fibreboard was likely to suffer from a similar "conflict." So whom should the District Court have appointed to negotiate a settlement that had to be reached soon, if ever? Should it have appointed attorneys unfamiliar with Fibreboard and the history of its asbestos litigation? Where was the District Court to find those competent, knowledgeable, conflict-free attorneys? The District Court said they did not exist. Finding of Fact ¶ 372 says there is "no credible evidence of the existence of other 'conflict-free' counsel who were qualified to negotiate" a settlement within the necessary time. Id., at 428a. Finding of Fact ¶ 317 adds that the District Court viewed it as
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