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Mealey's Attorney Fees

  • January 21, 2025

    9th Circuit Dismisses Inmate’s Appeal Of $725M Facebook Profile-Sharing Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued a mandate, stating that a judgment in which it dismissed as untimely an inmate’s appeal of the $725 million settlement of the consolidated class action over Facebook Inc. (now known as Meta Platforms Inc.) sharing users’ profile data with Cambridge Analytica, was now in effect.

  • January 21, 2025

    Building Owner Appeals Attorney Fee Award In Coverage Suit Over Structural Damage

    PHOENIX — A building owner insured filed a notice in an Arizona federal court indicating that it is appealing the court’s order awarding $198,234 in attorney fees to a commercial property insurer after granting the insurer’s motion for summary judgment in the insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for structural damage to its building.

  • January 21, 2025

    5th Circuit Vacates Attorney Fees In Soccer Business Sale Dispute For Segregation

    NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated attorney fees awarded in a dispute over the sale of a soccer match business and remanded for a trial court to determine whether the fees were properly segregated as the seller of the business is owed fees under Texas law for his successful breach of contract claim only.

  • January 21, 2025

    Idaho Supreme Court Rules On Towing Dispute, Reverses Attorney Fee Reduction

    BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho Supreme Court ruling on a towing dispute between neighbors affirmed summary judgment for the towing company and reversed the reduction of the attorney fee award for that company but reversed summary judgment for the neighbor that requested the tow, opining that factual questions remain.

  • January 15, 2025

    Judge Orders Distribution Of Funds In $15 Million Zillow Securities Settlement

    SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington ordered the distribution of a $15 million class action settlement in a case brought by investors against online real estate marketplace provider Zillow Group Inc. alleging that the provider concealed the development of a co-marketing program that violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) and encouraged such violations in violation of federal securities laws.

  • January 15, 2025

    Attorney Fees Of Over $4.2M Awarded in $14.5 Settlement Of ESOP Deal Challenge

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge on Jan. 14 granted final approval to two class settlements that the plaintiffs said sit “at the high end of the range of settlements resolving” similar employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) claims, with a combined recovery of $14.5 million that averages “about $35,109 per Class Member before fees, costs, and expenses.”

  • January 15, 2025

    Final Approval Given To $2 Million Insurance-Funded Settlement Of Data Breach Suit

    PORTLAND, Ore. — Five months after preliminarily approving a $2 million settlement of a class action over a marketing execution firm’s 2022 data breach, an Oregon federal judge granted final approval, deeming the approval “fair, reasonable, and adequate” and in accord with the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23.

  • January 13, 2025

    High Court Won’t Consider Fee Award In Copyright Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 denied a copyright defendant’s petition for a writ of certiorari, leaving in place a finding from the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that he was not the “prevailing party” under federal copyright law in the face of the copyright owner’s voluntary dismissal of the case.

  • January 10, 2025

    Negligence Suit Over Theft Of Genetic Data Settles For $8.9 Million

    ATLANTA — Finding a settlement fund of $8.9 million to be “fair, reasonable, and adequate” to resolve class claims brought against two cancer treatment health care companies that were affected by a 2021 ransomware attack, a Georgia federal judge granted final approval to an agreement that allows for payments of up to $1,000 or $5,000 and releases all claims against the defendants.

  • January 09, 2025

    Federal Judge Grants Final Approval Of $15.25 Million Securities Settlement

    GREENSBORO, N.C. — A medical device and pharmaceutical company and its shareholders received final approval of a settlement by a federal judge in North Carolina, ending a case brought by the shareholders, who alleged that they sustained financial losses based on false or misleading statements about securities offered by the company.

  • January 09, 2025

    Chicken Growers’ $100M Compensation Suppression Pact With Pilgrim’s Pride Approved

    MUSKOGEE, Okla. — A federal judge in Oklahoma granted final approval of a $100 million plus interest settlement between a nationwide class of growers and one of the poultry processors accused of conspiring to suppress their compensation in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act and Section 202 of the Packers and Stockyards Act and granted a motion for attorney fees, expenses and service awards.

  • January 09, 2025

    Final Approval Granted To U.S. Portion Of Fracking Securities Global Settlement

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A federal judge in New York granted final approval to the approximately $7 million U.S. portion of a global settlement in a case brought by investors alleging that an oil and gas exploration company violated securities laws.

  • January 08, 2025

    Home Depot’s $9.5 Million Meal, Rest Period Settlement Granted Final Approval

    SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington in a pair of orders granted final approval of a $9.5 million class settlement by The Home Depot Inc. and Home Depot USA Inc. (together, Home Depot) in a complaint by workers who alleged that the companies owed unpaid wages and compensation for rest and meal breaks the workers were denied and approved the requested attorney fees, costs and incentive awards.

  • January 07, 2025

    Attorney Fee, Timeliness Issues Highlighted In U.S. Supreme Court Certiorari Bid

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Seeking the high court’s review of a ruling that affirmed judgment for multiemployer funds, a contractor and surety assert that the latest of the nine Miller Act decisions that the U.S. Supreme Court issued was handed down in 1978, saying, “The time is ripe for this Court to decide another Miller Act case, and this should be that case.”

  • January 06, 2025

    Meta, Users Oppose Objector’s Certiorari Bid Over Service Awards, Attorney Fees

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A class member who initially objected to the $90 million settlement of a privacy class action over the use of tracking cookies by Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) did not present any questions meriting attention by the U.S. Supreme Court in his petition for certiorari protesting service awards and attorney fees that were approved as part of the settlement, Meta and the lead plaintiffs argue in briefs opposing certiorari.

  • January 06, 2025

    Special Counsel In New Jersey PFAS Settlement Seek More Than $36.7M In Fees

    WOODBURY, N.J. — The special counsel to the New Jersey attorney general and the plaintiffs filed a motion in New Jersey state court seeking $36,705,834.80 in attorney fees for their work in reaching a $392,781,963.69 settlement to resolve the state’s lawsuit for cleanup and removal costs from contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

  • January 03, 2025

    Motions For Attorney Fee Award Denied; Judge Says No Party Prevailed On Merits

    PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon federal judge refused to award attorney fees to an insured or to her former attorneys who filed a complaint-in-intervention regarding the enforceability of the attorney-fee contract between the attorneys and the insured because there was no prevailing party as the claims-in-intervention were dismissed based on claim preclusion and not based on the merits of the intervenors’ claims.

  • January 02, 2025

    $2.45M Class Settlement In ERISA Annuity Calculation Case Wins Final Approval

    MILWAUKEE — A class of about 500 individuals whose joint survivor annuity (JSA) benefits were calculated using a 1971 mortality table and 6% interest rate will receive increased benefits under a $2.45 million Employee Retirement Income Security Act settlement that a Wisconsin federal judge granted final approval.

  • January 02, 2025

    9th Circuit Panel Dismisses Appeal Of Fee Denial Reconsideration In CWA Case

    SAN FRANCISCO — Citing lack of jurisdiction, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel has granted an environmental organization’s motion to dismiss an appeal the cities of Sunnyvale and Mountain View, Calif., filed of a federal court’s denial of reconsideration of interim attorney fees to the organization in a Clean Water Act (CWA) case.

  • December 30, 2024

    5th Circuit Argument Set In Reinsurer’s Appeal Involving Timely Notice

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has set oral argument for Feb. 5 in a reinsurer’s appeal of a $2,866,423.97 judgment that includes attorney fees; a key issue in the case is whether the reinsurer was given timely notice.

  • December 19, 2024

    Judge Orders Class Notified In $18.2M Settlement Of Senior Home Understaffing Suit

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal judge ordered that notification be issued to more than 4,100 class members comprising family members of former and current residents of care facilities after the court granted final approval of an $18.2 million settlement with the facilities’ operator, including $10.5 million in attorney fees, for claims that residents were harmed by understaffing in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and elder financial abuse law.

  • December 19, 2024

    Class Counsel Get A 3rd Of $9M Global Deal In ERISA Proprietary Funds Suit

    CINCINNATI — An Ohio federal magistrate judge on Dec. 18 granted final approval to a global $9 million settlement of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over proprietary funds, from which she authorized paying the requested amounts of $3 million for attorney fees and $30,000 for service awards.

  • December 19, 2024

    $1.25 Million Settlement Approved In Onix Group Data Breach Class Action

    PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge presiding over a consolidated class action for negligence and consumer protection violations related to a 2023 data breach experienced by a Pennsylvania firm granted final approval to a $1.25 million settlement of the suit, overruling two objections and mostly granting requested attorney fees and service awards.

  • December 18, 2024

    Morgan Stanley Expenses Settlement Reaffirmed, Attorney Fees Disgorgement Denied

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California reaffirmed the fairness of a more than $10 million settlement in a case accusing Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (MSSB) of various wage violations and declined to vacate a supplemental attorney fees award, deny further distributions or disgorge past payments.

  • December 18, 2024

    Split Ohio High Court Rules On Prevailing Party In Deceptive Trade Practices Case

    COLUMBUS, Ohio — A plaintiff who convinces a jury that a defendant violated the Ohio Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) but is awarded no damages or injunctive relief is not a “prevailing party” under the act, the Ohio Supreme Court majority ruled, reversing attorney fees for the plaintiff.