Mealey's Attorney Fees : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Attorney Fees

September 06, 2024
Panel: Denial Of Attorney Fees Proper Even As Judges Say Law Should Be Revisited

NEW ORLEANS — A panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that a city and two police officers are not entitled to attorney fees even though they are prevailing parties in a case brought by a man who contended that officers used excessive force and violated his civil rights during a traffic stop. In a separate, concurring opinion, two judges said that if the Circuit Court is “committed to taking the text seriously” in civil rights litigation, it should “eventually revisit our atextual approach” to the section of the civil rights law that deals with attorney fees.
September 05, 2024
8th Circuit Affirms Quashing Of Subpoenas, Awarding Attorney Fees Against Experian

ST. LOUIS — Agreeing with a district court that a credit reporting agency “crossed the line when it demanded mostly irrelevant information,” the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s orders quashing subpoenas and awarding a consumer credit law firm $93,243.50 in fees and costs “for the extra work” the agency created.
September 05, 2024
Denial Of Attorney Fee Award To Disability Claimant Was Proper, Panel Says

CINCINNATI — A district court did not abuse its discretion in denying a disability claimant’s motion for attorney fees because the claimant failed to carry his burden of showing that the attorney fees he sought to recover were reasonable, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in affirming the lower court’s ruling.
September 04, 2024
Attorney Fees, Costs Not Warranted, Minnesota Federal Judge Says

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge denied a disability claimant’s motion for attorney fees and costs after determining that an award of fees and costs is not warranted because no other plan participant will benefit from the claimant’s suit and the suit did not resolve an important legal question.
September 04, 2024
Voluntary Dismissal Conditionally Granted In Underfill Class Suit

SAN DIEGO — In a second pass at the motion following remand by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a federal judge in California conditionally granted voluntary dismissal without prejudice sought by consumers in their putative class complaint alleging underfill of lower calorie ice cream but instructed that the consumers must pay the ice cream company and its CEO more than half of the attorney fees they requested and refile any new case related to the same issues in the same district court and that the case must be assigned to the same judge.
August 30, 2024
Texas Appeals Court Affirms $135K For Attorney Fees In Hernia Mesh Arbitration

EASTLAND, Texas — A Texas appeals court affirmed $135,000 arbitrator’s final award in a decades-old dispute over the distribution of attorney fees in a hernia repair Kugel Mesh case, rejecting a law firm’s request for a $1 million award.
August 30, 2024
9th Circuit: No Attorney Fees For Employee In Mooted Disability Benefits Case

PHOENIX — A worker who sued her employer and its insurer for disability benefits has no grounds to seek attorney fees incurred in a federal district court after she was paid the full amount of compensation she sought because her case was mooted by the voluntary payment, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled Aug. 29.
August 29, 2024
Panel: Coach’s $1.77M Attorney Fee Award In Suit Over Prayer Is Barred From Coverage

SEATTLE — A Washinton appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of an insurer in a school district insured’s breach of contract lawsuit seeking indemnification for the $1.77 million attorney fee award it paid a high school football coach after a divided U.S. Supreme Court concluded that it erred when it removed the coach from his job for praying on the field after games because such expressions are constitutionally protected, finding that the award is excluded from coverage.
August 28, 2024
Judge Denies Attorney Fees In First Impression Withdrawal Liability Case

HAMMOND, Ind. — On remand following reversal of a Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA) ruling in a withdrawal liability dispute, an Indiana federal judge entered final judgment totaling $4,026,324.18 plus post-judgment interest for an employer but denied its opposed request for $217,249 in attorney fees.
August 27, 2024
CPAP Plaintiffs’ Counsel Ask For $5M In Fees, Costs In Medical Monitoring Settlement

PITTSBURGH — Counsel representing plaintiffs in a multidistrict litigation involving the recall of approximately 10.8 million continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) sleep apnea devices on Aug. 26 filed a motion requesting $5 million for attorney fees, costs and service awards as part of a $25 million settlement to resolve medical monitoring claims.
August 27, 2024
1st Circuit Affirms Attorney Fees, Summary Judgment For Multiemployer Plan

BOSTON — Upholding judgment of more than $1.6 million against a Puerto Rican labor union affiliate “for substantially the same reasons” as the lower court, a First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel in an unpublished opinion rejected various arguments regarding liabilities following a merger and attorney fees.
August 27, 2024
Federal Circuit: Trial Court Wrongly Analyzed Attorney Fees Motion In Patent Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal district court erred in analyzing whether several telecommunications companies that prevailed against patent infringement claims were entitled to attorney fees because it erroneously gave weight to several “red flags” that supposedly made the case exceptional, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held in vacating the trial court’s order granting the companies’ motion for attorney fees.
August 27, 2024
$725M Profile-Sharing Suit Settlement Is Fair, Facebook And Plaintiffs Tell Court

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook and plaintiffs who successfully reached a $725 million settlement agreement in a consolidated privacy class action over the sharing of Facebook users’ profiles with Cambridge Analytica urged the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reject the appeal of two objectors who argue that the settlement should be higher and the attorney fees greatly reduced.
August 26, 2024
3rd Circuit: No Fees Due In Trade Dress Dispute Over Whiteboards

PHILADELPHIA — A panel of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 23 upheld a Pennsylvania federal judge’s denial of attorney fees to the defendant company in a trade dress dispute between two school material manufacturers, agreeing that the case did not reach the level of exceptionality required by the Lanham Act for attorney fees to be recoverable.
August 23, 2024
Magistrate Judge: Office Depot Owed Some Fees In Copyright, Contract Dispute

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A federal magistrate judge in Florida said that Office Depot Inc. should recover just under $1 million in attorney fees from a software development company that accused the retailer of copyright misappropriation through its use of a database created by the developer after a federal judge previously held that a licensing agreement between the two companies allowed Office Depot’s use of the database.
August 22, 2024
Illinois Federal Judge Declines To Vacate $525M Jury Award In Tech Patent Dispute

CHICAGO — A jury’s award of $525 million for patent infringement claims involving information storage and retrieval patents was supported by sufficient evidence and should not be vacated, an Illinois federal judge found in denying Amazon’s motion for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) and its motion for a new trial.
August 22, 2024
Reinsurer Takes Timely Notice, Other Issues To 5th Circuit In Indemnity Row

NEW ORLEANS — Fighting a $2,866,423.97 judgment that includes attorney fees, a reinsurer told the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the challenged decision “appears to be the first case to vest virtually unfettered discretion with an insured (or ceding company in this case) to decide when to notify its insurer (or reinsurer) of a claim.”
August 21, 2024
8th Circuit Affirms Ruling For Multiemployer Funds In Miller Act Dispute

ST. LOUIS — In an Aug. 20 opinion affirming judgment for multiemployer employee funds, an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in part that the terms of a subcontractor’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) obligate a contractor to pay attorney fees and liquidated damages awarded in the Miller Act dispute.
August 20, 2024
5th Circuit Affirms Attorney Fee Award But Cuts Amount Calculated Without Lodestar

NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the decision to award attorney fees for assertion of “frivolous” claims but reduced the total from $110,261.16 to $98,666.50 because part of the calculation was improper as “[o]ur precedent does not permit the district court to bypass the lodestar in that way.”
August 20, 2024
U.S. High Court: U.S. May Participate In Arguments Over Attorney Fees

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Aug. 19 granted a motion by the United States for leave to participate in and for divided argument in an appeal over preliminary injunctions and attorney fees after a divided Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Virginians were the prevailing parties in a putative class complaint over a now-repealed statute regarding the suspension of driver’s licenses.
August 20, 2024
Hedge Fund Manager Appeals Finding Of No Attorney Fees In SEC Enforcement

BOSTON — A hedge fund manager and his funds have appealed to the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a Massachusetts federal judge’s holding that they are not entitled to attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) after partially prevailing on claims brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission because the SEC’s initial position was substantially justified.
August 20, 2024
5th Circuit Says Neither Party Prevailed In Contract Dispute; Fees, Costs Not Due

NEW ORLEANS — A split panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court ruling awarding $838,137.17 in attorney fees and costs in a contract dispute related to the construction of a hotel, concluding that neither party prevailed. While the majority found that neither party was entitled to fees and costs, the dissenting judge said the lower court correctly determined which party prevailed.
August 19, 2024
Firms Appeal Opioid MDL Attorney Fees Awards To 6th Circuit

CLEVELAND — Two law firms in the opioid multidistrict litigation centralized in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio filed notice of an appeal to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after the judge overseeing the MDL rejected their objections to the final recommendations made by a fee panel to allocate $2.13 billion in attorney fees in connection with various settlements reached by the parties.
August 19, 2024
D.C. Circuit: No Award To Whistleblowing Lawyer Who Tipped Client To SEC

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel of judges in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the Security and Exchange Commission’s decision to deny a whistleblower award to a company’s in-house attorney whose tip led to SEC enforcement action against the company and certain of its executives, with the panel holding in a June opinion that was unsealed Aug. 16 that the attorney’s tip was not made to serve his client’s interests.
August 19, 2024
Delaware High Court Affirms Attorney Fees in $1B Dell Securities Settlement

WILMINGTON, Del. — A unanimous Delaware Supreme Court upheld a vice chancellor’s award of $266.7 million in attorney fees to counsel for the lead plaintiff in a complaint brought by investors alleging that Dell Technologies Inc., certain of its controlling stockholders and directors, and its financial adviser breached their fiduciary duty by engaging in a stock swap that resulted in significant losses to investors, holding that the vice chancellor did not abuse his discretion in setting the award.