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

Mealey's Attorney Fees

October 13, 2025
9th Circuit Affirms $4 Million Judgment Against Supplement Counterfeiters

SAN FRANCISCO — A panel in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a California federal judge’s decision to award a supplement maker and its founder a $4 million judgment and nearly $5.3 million in attorney fees after entering default judgment against entities that the supplement maker accused of counterfeiting its products, finding that the appellant entities were not prejudiced by the judge’s decision to enter default judgment without considering the entities’ motions to set aside default.
October 10, 2025
After Fees Award, LTD Insurer Drops Appeal Of Ruling That Doctor Is Due Benefits

PHILADELPHIA — Weeks after the plaintiff in a long-term disability (LTD) benefits case was awarded reduced attorney fees of $117,297.50 by the trial court, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed the insurer’s appeal pursuant to a joint stipulation.
October 10, 2025
Group Home Appeals No Coverage Ruling For Underlying Negligence Suit

DULUTH, Minn. — The operators of a group home notified a Montana federal court that it is appealing the court’s holding that a commercial general liability insurer has no duty to defend them against an underlying negligence lawsuit and that they are not entitled to attorney fees, challenging the court’s ruling that no coverage was triggered because the underlying complaint alleges only mental injuries and not bodily injury, sickness or disease.
October 09, 2025
Court: Expert Testimony Showed Evidence Hurricane Caused Damage, JNOV An Error

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Florida trial judge improperly “supplanted the jury’s role as factfinder” when he reweighed photographic evidence and granted an insurer’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) after a jury considered expert testimony and evidence to find that Hurricane Irma created a hole in a home’s roof, a state appeals court ruled Oct. 8.
October 09, 2025
Justice Awards Attorney Fees In Legal World’s Latest ‘Unfortunate Chapter’ With AI

NEW YORK — A lawyer’s error-riddled filings and initial failure to admit how they came to be add the latest “unfortunate chapter to the story of artificial intelligence misuse in the legal profession,” a New York justice said in awarding attorney fees and costs as a sanction.
October 09, 2025
New York City Entitled To Fees, Costs In Climate Change Case, 2nd Circuit Affirms

NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals majority ruled that New York City is entitled to attorney fees and costs that incurred litigating consumer protection claims brought against oil and gas companies that allegedly lied to consumers about the effects of fossil fuel products in affirming a New York federal judge’s ruling that was issued along with an order remanding the case to state court.
October 08, 2025
Honeywell Defends Award Against Mexican Company For $33M Plus $20M In Fees

NEW YORK — Honeywell International Inc. and its subsidiary filed a cross-motion in New York federal court to confirm an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) award worth more than $53 million including $20.9 million in attorney fees and costs against a Mexican construction company that has petitioned for vacatur, arguing that the award “is more than adequately reasoned” and that no grounds for vacatur apply.
October 08, 2025
9th Circuit Cuts Police Officer’s Attorney Fee Award For City’s Retaliation

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 7 reduced by around $200,000 an award for attorney fees given to a police officer who sued Vancouver, Wash., for sex discrimination and retaliation after finding that a district court, though it properly reduced the award for the officer’s limited success at trial, was wrong to include work done on an unrelated case and erred in granting a request for a contingency award.
October 08, 2025
Judge Tosses Athletics Fansite Copyright Suit Against Sports Fan Page Company

ABERDEEN, Miss. — A Mississippi federal judge on Oct. 7 dismissed without prejudice a copyright infringement suit alleging that a company that maintains Facebook fan pages for U.S. professional and college sports violated the intellectual property rights of a Mississippi State University internet fansite, finding that the court lacks personal jurisdiction over the suit because the fansite failed to show that the fan page company is “subject to personal jurisdiction” in Mississippi.
October 08, 2025
Valuation, Attorney Fee Issues Lead To Preliminary Denial Of Privacy Settlement

PHOENIX — An Arizona federal judge denied preliminary approval of a proposed class settlement to resolve claims over a mental health provider’s alleged use of Meta’s Pixel to share patient data, holding that the agreement lacked evidence to establish its overall value and contained an attorney fee structure that was disproportionate to class recovery.
October 07, 2025
Judicial Watch Founder To Seek Rehearing After Attorney Fees Petition Denied

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ousted Judicial Watch Founder Larry Klayman, who has been engaged in litigation with the public interest group for more than 19 years, filed a notice in the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 that he intends to seek rehearing after his petition challenging an attorney fees award was denied that day.
October 06, 2025
Judge Clarifies Order Granting Homebuilder’s, Contractor’s Attorney Fees Motions

ORLANDO, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida on Oct. 3 granted a homebuilder’s motion to clarify an order that adopted a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation granting the homebuilder’s and general contractor’s motions for entitlement to attorney fees following a summary judgment ruling in their favor in a commercial liability insurer’s lawsuit seeking a declaration as to coverage for construction-related damages at a condominium development, clarifying the deadline for the parties to move for determination of amounts owed.
October 03, 2025
9th Circuit Says Discretion Abused In Attorney Fee Award To Sam’s Club Worker

SAN FRANCISCO — Citing a U.S. Supreme Court opinion, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that a federal court in California “abused its discretion when it failed to provide a ‘concise but clear’ explanation for” an award of attorney fees to a Sam’s Club employee after she settled her claims that she was overworked and undercompensated while working for a six-week period in 2019.
October 02, 2025
ESOP Participant Prevails In Arbitration, Seeks Confirmation Of Award, Fees

PHOENIX — An employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) participant who filed a putative class complaint but was forced into individual arbitration asked an Arizona federal court on Oct. 1 to confirm an $11,029.50 arbitration award and to confirm an order directing the defendants to pay $2,359,909 in attorney fees incurred during the arbitration proceedings and $132,310.97 in arbitration costs.
October 01, 2025
Federal Circuit: Multiple Errors In Hookless Curtain Infringement Findings

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued a mixed opinion Sept. 30 in a long-running intellectual property dispute over hookless shower curtains, affirming a New York federal judge’s findings that one appellant company infringed multiple patents but vacating or reversing findings that another appellant company infringed the patents; the panel also vacated trademark and trade dress infringement findings against the appellant companies and set aside attorney fees.
October 01, 2025
11th Circuit Affirms Fees In 5th Consideration Of Commodores Mark Appeal

ATLANTA — Considering an appeal related to the case for the fifth time, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld a Florida federal judge’s decision to award attorney fees in “protracted litigation” involving trademarks related to the funk band The Commodores against one of its founding members who formed groups with similar names after departing from the group.
October 01, 2025
Indiana High Court Disciplines Attorney For Fee-Related ‘Professional Misconduct’

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Supreme Court issued a 60-day suspension from the practice of law for an attorney it found to have “engaged in professional misconduct” involving unreasonable attorney fees.
September 30, 2025
Judge Remands Suit Against Nicotine Pouch Sellers, Denies Attorney Fees

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge granted a nonprofit health group’s motion to remand its lawsuit accusing two companies that sell Zyn nicotine pouches of false marketing to the District of Columbia Superior Court after finding that federal jurisdiction does not exist over the case and denied the nonprofit’s motion for attorney fees.
September 30, 2025
Hawaii High Court Affirms Attorney Fee Denial In Inverse Condemnation Row

HONOLULU — Handing down “a question of first impression” ruling it said is in accord with “the unanimous position of other states that have considered the issue,” the Hawaii Supreme Court upheld denial of attorney fees in an inverse condemnation case based on sovereign immunity.
September 29, 2025
9th Circuit Affirms Court’s Denial Of Insured’s Request For Attorney Fees

SEATTLE — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s denial of an insured’s motion for attorney fees and costs after the court granted the insured’s motion to remand a coverage dispute arising from a shooting at the insured’s apartment complexes, finding that the insured’s characterization of the insurer’s “notice of removal as a fabrication and a misrepresentation of fact is a bridge too far.”
September 29, 2025
Judge Rules For Final Insurer In Bad Faith Suit Arising From Construction Defects

DENVER — A federal judge in Colorado granted the last remaining defendant insurer’s motion for summary judgment in a plaintiff insurer’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking recovery of the defense and settlement costs that it paid on behalf of its general contractor insured in an underlying construction defects lawsuit but denied the defendant insurer’s request for attorney fees because the lawsuit was not frivolous.
September 26, 2025
Judge OKs Additional Attorney Fees In Settlement Between City, Protesters

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge has approved a stipulation under which New York City will pay an additional $750,000 in class counsel fees and costs as part of a previously approved $13.73 million settlement between the city and a class of approximately 1,380 individuals who were arrested or arrested and subjected to force by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) during protests in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd.
September 26, 2025
Consumers’ Attorney Fees Theory Doesn’t Create Jurisdiction, 9th Circuit Says

SAN FRANCISCO — Writing that consumers would need to incur $4.3 billion in attorney fees to meet the jurisdictional amount in controversy requirement, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated a lower court’s dismissal on the merits of the consumers’ putative class action against the maker of Kleenex-brand “Wet Wipes” for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and on remand directed dismissal for lack of jurisdiction.
September 26, 2025
Lincoln University Settles Pandemic Tuition, Fees Class Suit For $169,500

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania university will pay $169,500 to end a student’s class suit alleging that the school was unjustly enriched after it failed to issue prorated refunds for tuition and fees after the campus closed during the coronavirus pandemic.
September 26, 2025
$8.25M Class Deal Ends ERISA Recordkeeping Case After Release Adjustments

BOSTON — Following last-minute adjustments suggested by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and an independent fiduciary, a Massachusetts federal judge on Sept. 25 granted final approval to an $8.25 million class settlement that resolved an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over a retirement plan’s allegedly excessive recordkeeping fees.