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

Mealey's Attorney Fees

September 12, 2024
Government To U.S. High Court: Let EAJA Fee Denial In ESOP Challenge Stand

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Opposing a certiorari petition that is supported by two amicus curiae briefs, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) told the U.S. Supreme Court that denial of an Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) request for attorney fees and nontaxable costs in an unsuccessful challenge to an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deal is a “factbound determination” that “is correct and does not conflict with any decision of this Court or of any other court of appeals.”
September 11, 2024
After ERISA 401(k) Win, Defendants Seek Awards Totaling $222,275

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Defendants who won on all claims after a bench trial in a consolidated Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over 401(k) fees and funds have asked a California federal court to award them $10,000 in attorney fees from each of the three named plaintiffs and $192,275.32 in attorney fees and expert expenses from class counsel.
September 11, 2024
11th Circuit: Real Estate Company Not ‘Prevailing Party’ In Copyright Case

ATLANTA — A Florida federal judge was correct to deny attorney fees to a real estate company accused by a photography company of infringing a photo’s copyright, a panel of judges in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held in an unpublished opinion, saying that the real estate firm is not the “prevailing party” as defined by the Copyright Act because the photography studio voluntarily dismissed its claims.
September 10, 2024
Plaintiffs Seek $162M In Attorney Fees For Ohio Train Derailment Settlement

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — The plaintiffs in the litigation over the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which released toxic chemicals into the air and soil have moved in Ohio federal court for $162 million in attorney fees, reimbursement of $18 million in litigation costs incurred by class counsel and service awards of $15,000 to each class representative.
September 10, 2024
Hunter Biden Wins Attorney Fees From Laptop Files Poster

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Sept. 9 granted Hunter Biden’s motion for attorney fees against a conservative activist and his organization, whom Biden accuses of violating computer fraud laws and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by posting data from his private laptop online, finding that Biden is entitled to fees incurred defending against a frivolous motion to strike pursuant to California’s anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) law.
September 10, 2024
Class Counsel Get A Third Of $11.8M ERISA Settlement In Retirement Plan Case

BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge granted final approval to an $11.8 million class settlement that the named plaintiff who challenged management of a Maryland health system 403(b) retirement plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act said “provides for average relief of $481 to Class Members,” also overruling the lone objection to awarding $3,933,333.33 for 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.”