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Mealey's Attorney Fees

  • February 17, 2026

    Willful Infringement, Enhanced Damages Affirmed In Current Converter Patent Fight

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 13 affirmed a Texas federal jury’s finding that a defendant-appellant electronics manufacturer willfully infringed two claims of another entity’s patent on direct current to direct current (DC-DC) converters; the panel said substantial evidence supported both the jury’s finding and subsequent enhanced damages and attorney fees.

  • February 13, 2026

    Alaska High Court Upholds Enhanced Attorney Fees For Wife In Probate Dispute

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The wife of a 90-year-old man who died from a pulmonary embolism 23 days after suffering a stroke at home in a remote location in Alaska and not receiving medical attention until the following day was the prevailing party in a probate dispute between her and her husband’s son, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled, upholding an award of enhanced attorney fees for the wife after determining that the man’s son failed to show that the wife’s failure to seek immediate medical care directly caused the man’s death.

  • February 13, 2026

    Insurer Argues Damages Calculation In Water Damage Coverage Dispute Was Wrong

    LOS ANGELES — A contractor’s commercial general liability insurer asked a federal judge in California to reconsider the judge’s grant of summary judgment to developers on their declaratory judgment and breach of contract claims against the insurer, arguing that the calculation of damages the judge found the insurer owed to the developers was wrong and that the judge failed to properly address arguments raised in the insurer’s opposition.

  • February 12, 2026

    Venezuela Auction Judge Denies Special Master’s Fee Allocation Request

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The federal judge overseeing a $5.8 billion auction in Delaware federal court of oil assets belonging to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its affiliates to satisfy confirmed arbitral awards and bond debts denied a request by the court-appointed special master to re-allocate more than $3 million in attorney fees he has incurred defending against a motion to disqualify himself so that the fees are paid by the movants.

  • February 12, 2026

    Attorney Fee Denial In Federal Workers’ Lump-Sum Payment Class Case Vacated

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated a trial court’s denial of attorney fees for former government employees who negotiated a settlement with the United States in a class case over unused leave payments and directed the lower court on remand to address in the first instance whether the United States’ conduct prior to the lawsuit was “substantially justified.”

  • February 12, 2026

    Federal Circuit: Attorney Entitled To Fees Only For Claims Filed Prior To Appeal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a veterans court’s decision limiting a fee award to attorney for representing a veteran in the benefits adjudication process, finding that under federal law, the attorney was only owed fees related to her representation of the veteran’s neck injury claim and not claims filed after a notice of disagreement (NOD) was filed appealing the claim to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals.

  • February 12, 2026

    Alabama Supreme Court Denies Petition Seeking Jury Submission On Attorney Fees

    MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Holding that parties found to have breached an agreement for the sale of a commercial property failed to establish a constitutional right to a jury trial over the prevailing party’s right to attorney fees, the Alabama Supreme Court denied their petition for mandamus in which they asked the high court to order the trial court to set aside its order granting the prevailing party’s motion to prove its fees and expenses after the jury trial.

  • February 11, 2026

    Airline In ERISA Case Involving ESG Ordered To Pay Nearly $4.6M In Attorney Fees

    FORT WORTH, Texas — A Texas federal judge on Feb. 10 awarded a class $4,596,287.50 of the $7,907,760.60 it requested for attorney fees following a bench trial in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations and the purported proxy voting activism of nonparty investment management firms; he also denied a request for a $15,000 service award and clarified aspects of the injunctive relief ordered in the Sept. 30 final judgment denying monetary damages.

  • February 10, 2026

    2nd Circuit Affirms NLRB Subpoenas, Rejects Fee Review In Fired Tour Guide Case

    NEW YORK —  A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a New York federal judge’s order enforcing four administrative subpoenas duces tecum and awarding attorney fees and costs to the National Labor Relations Board stemming from the firing of a New York City tour guide over unionization efforts, but the panel held that it lacked jurisdiction to review the lower court’s order fixing the amount of fees and costs due to the employee not filing a timely appeal.

  • February 09, 2026

    5th Circuit Panel Lets Reversal Of Fee Award To NFL Disability Claimant Stand

    NEW ORLEANS — In a per curiam order denying panel rehearing issued without explanation, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals let stand its reversal of an award of more than $1.25 million in attorney fees to a former National Football League player who sued for a higher level of disability benefits than he was awarded, prevailed after a bench trial and then saw that favorable ruling reversed in a previous appeal.

  • February 05, 2026

    Delaware High Court Reverses Fee Award In Tesla Excess Compensation Action

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The Delaware Supreme Court reversed the attorney fee award in a derivative litigation settlement resolving excess compensation claims against Tesla Inc.’s directors, finding that the Delaware Court of Chancery erred by including the intrinsic value of stock options returned to Tesla in its financial benefit analysis.

  • February 05, 2026

    Judge Ponders Sanctions After Plaintiffs Rely On 50 Cite, Quote Errors

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A pair of pro se plaintiffs must show cause why they should not face more than $20,000 in additional attorney fees after filing court documents with more than 50 instances of what appears to be artificial intelligence-generated errors, a federal judge said Feb. 4 while adopting a report and recommendation awarding $11,740 in fees.

  • February 05, 2026

    ‘Japanese’ Alcohol Brand Will Remove Deceptive Labels In Class Action Settlement

    SAN FRANCISCO — A consumer representing a certified statewide class in a lawsuit against a California company for deceptively marketing the origin of Japanese-style sake that is manufactured domestically filed a motion in California federal court for preliminary approval of a settlement under which the company will remove the allegedly deceptive origin labels from its products and pay the plaintiffs attorney fees of $645,000.

  • February 03, 2026

    23andMe Bankruptcy Judge Approves $50M Settlement; Data Breach MDL To Be Dismissed

    The parties to multidistrict litigation in California federal court against 23andMe Inc. and affiliates for a data breach in which millions of customers’ genetic data and personally identifiable information (PII) was hacked filed a joint status report on Feb. 2 stating the plaintiffs will move to dismiss the MDL following the final approval in Missouri federal bankruptcy court of a settlement worth up to $50 million to resolve U.S. customers’ claims against 23andMe, with 25% allocated for attorney fees.

  • February 03, 2026

    Lawyer: Courts Haven’t Addressed ‘Core Issues’ In Case Disputing Attorney Fees

    NEWARK, N.J. — The lawyer representing a woman who filed a putative class action over the amount of attorney fees awarded to a law firm for its work in the Benicar multidistrict litigation on Jan. 30 urged a New Jersey federal judge to reject a request to file a motion to dismiss because the case raises legal issues that have not been previously addressed.

  • February 02, 2026

    Plaintiff’s Counsel Seek Stay Of $623K Attorney Fee Sanction Pending Mandamus Writ

    LOS ANGELES — A plaintiff’s attorneys facing a $623,000 attorney fee sanction on Jan. 30 filed a motion in California federal court to stay the sanction against them pending the outcome of their petition for a writ of mandamus before the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, writing that the sanction for allegedly bringing a frivolous suit against Walmart Inc. by misrepresenting how the plaintiff purchased Walmart’s store-brand avocado oil is “erroneous.”

  • January 30, 2026

    Appellate Court Finds Trial Court Misinterpreted Parties’ Attorney Fee Agreement

    LOS ANGELES — A California appellate panel reversed a trial court’s decision granting attorney fees to a drink company in a case brought by the seller of a majority interest in a wine company for breach of contract, finding that the trial court misinterpreted the attorney fee clause of the parties’ memorandum of understanding.

  • January 30, 2026

    Lawyer Says Case Disputing Attorney Fees In Benicar MDL Should Be Dismissed

    NEWARK, N.J. — A putative class action over the amount of attorney fees awarded to a law firm for its work in the Benicar multidistrict litigation raises the same legal theories that have twice been rejected by a New Jersey federal judge and should be dismissed with prejudice, a lawyer tells a New Jersey federal court, asking for permission to file a motion to dismiss.

  • January 30, 2026

    Panel Affirms $1.5M Attorney Fees, No Restitution For Unfair Cemetery Contracts

    LOS ANGELES — A California appellate panel affirmed a state court’s rulings vacating a judgment finding the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles liable for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) against a certified class of grave purchasers by imposing unfair terms in burial contracts, but also ordering the archbishop to pay the plaintiffs $1.5 million in attorney fees under a “catalyst” theory because they obtained a “significant benefit” for “a large class of persons.”

  • January 29, 2026

    Judge Approves $7.5 Million Class Settlement For Case Involving Premature Birth Drug

    NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge granted final approval of a $7.5 million class action settlement to end claims that a drug manufacturer knew that its premature birth prevention drug was ineffective and awarded attorney fees, costs and service fee awards for the named plaintiffs.

  • January 27, 2026

    4th Circuit Addresses Bankruptcy Issue In Affirming Withdrawal Liability Ruling

    RICHMOND, Va. — Resolving “two important questions” that both “concern what happens when a multiemployer pension plan submits a proof of claim for withdrawal liability in the bankruptcy of a contributing employer,” the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 26 affirmed summary judgment against an employer that withdrew from the multiemployer fund and its control group.

  • January 27, 2026

    10th Circuit Affirms $17.3M Attorney Fee Award In Fracking Royalty Dispute

    DENVER — A 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 26 affirmed a lower court’s award of more than $17.3 million in attorney fees as part of a $52 million oil and gas royalty settlement on grounds that the trial court assessed the award’s reasonableness by weighing it using Oklahoma’s statutory factors and conducting a lodestar cross-check and there was no abuse of discretion.

  • January 23, 2026

    Supplement Patent Owner To High Court: Federal Circuit Wrongly Affirmed Sanctions

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent-holding company tells the U.S. Supreme Court that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to affirm a Florida federal judge’s entry of sanctions against it, in part because the appeals court did not rely on the District Court’s primary bad faith finding.

  • January 23, 2026

    Magistrate Says Insurer’s Subrogation Claim Against Contractor Should Proceed

    AUSTIN, Texas — A federal magistrate judge in Texas recommended that a district court deny a construction company’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in a case its insurer brought against it seeking to recover attorney fees it paid in defending subcontractors in an arbitration regarding allegedly negligent hotel designs and construction, finding that the insurer exclusively paid defense cost claims.

  • January 22, 2026

    Nevada Supreme Court OKs $161K Attorney Fee Award In Dance Crew Dispute

    CARSON CITY, Nev. — The Nevada Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s award of approximately $161,000 in attorney fees and costs to a founding member of a dance crew who won a dispute over the distribution of proceeds from a separate settlement after his offer to settle the proceeds dispute was rejected by an employee of the crew and his company, but reversed $138,000 in damages for a tax penalty that was improperly awarded.