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Mealey's Attorney Fees

  • March 03, 2026

    Magistrate Judge Grants Preliminary OK To Japanese Alcohol Labeling Settlement

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge granted preliminary approval to a settlement of a California consumer’s class action against a California company that was accused of deceptively marketing the origin of Japanese-style sake that is manufactured domestically, allegedly in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), with the settlement providing for injunctive relief and attorney fees of $645,000.

  • March 03, 2026

    Judge Gives Final Approval To $7.75M Settlement In Stock-Drop Class Action

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted final approval to a $7.75 million settlement in a class action brought by investors against a biopharmaceutical company and certain of its current and former executives that alleged that the defendants made false and misleading statements that caused the company’s stock price to drop and investors to lose money.

  • March 03, 2026

    5th Circuit Reverses Award Of Attorney Fees For Work On Unsuccessful Challenge

    NEW ORLEANS — Litigants challenging the enforcement of a consent decree entered decades ago relating to Texas’s administration of the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment program (EPSDT) were improperly awarded attorney fees for work related to two challenges that were unsuccessful, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held in partially reversing an order.

  • March 03, 2026

    South Dakota Supreme Court Reverses Attorney Fees For Wrongly Served Party

    PIERRE, S.D. — In a case of mistaken identity, a woman who was wrongly served with a debt collection complaint and had to hire an attorney to extract herself from the case failed to show violation of South Dakota Codified Law 15-6-11 (Rule 11) or bad faith by the attorneys representing Wells Fargo Bank N.A. even though the attorneys failed to respond to a letter demanding dismissal, the South Dakota Supreme Court ruled, reversing an attorney fee award for the woman.

  • February 24, 2026

    Insurer Files New Motion For Reconsideration In Water Damage Coverage Dispute

    LOS ANGELES — A general liability insurer filed a new motion asking a federal judge in California to reconsider his grant of summary judgment to developers on their declaratory judgment and breach of contract claims against the insurer after the judge issued docket-only orders striking the insurer’s earlier motions for reconsideration.

  • February 24, 2026

    5th Circuit: Texas Federal Judge Failed To Explain Fees In Copyright Case

    NEW ORLEANS — While a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel rejected plaintiff-appellants’ arguments that a Texas federal judge lacked jurisdiction to enter attorney fees in a copyright row after the Fifth Circuit had already affirmed an earlier finding that the parties would bear their own fees and costs, the panel also found that the judge failed to provide a lodestar analysis to explain the $500,000 awarded in attorney fees.

  • February 24, 2026

    Judge Confirms Arbitration Awards Including Nearly $2.4M For Attorney Fees

    PHOENIX — Resolving competing motions in favor of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) participant who filed a putative class complaint but was forced into individual arbitration, an Arizona federal judge confirmed an $11,029.50 arbitration award and an order awarding $2,359,909 in attorney fees incurred during the arbitration proceedings and $132,310.97 in arbitration costs.

  • February 24, 2026

    Employers To Pay $1.7M In Attorney Fees Over Invasive Application Questions

    SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge granted final approval to a settlement of $1 per class member, amounting to approximately $172,000, and granted a motion for attorney fees of $1,775,000 to the plaintiffs’ attorneys to resolve class action claims against multiple employers for requiring job applicants to answer invasive medical inquiries, including when one plaintiff’s last menstrual period was, in violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and California’s unfair competition law (UCL).

  • February 23, 2026

    Changes To Hong Kong Tribunal Tainted $5.7M Attorney Fee Award, Court Told

    LOS ANGELES — A Dutch company based in California and two California citizens on Feb. 20 filed a motion in California federal court for reconsideration of an order confirming a Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) award against them worth more than $5.7 million, mostly comprising attorney fees in addition to arbitration costs, writing that the arbitration was flawed due to a new law that forced two of their counsel to resign and rendered HKIAC “incapable of impartial administration.”

  • February 23, 2026

    English Panel Says Nigeria Can’t Obtain Attorney Fees From Litigation Funder Yet

    LONDON — An English appellate panel dismissed the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s appeal of a lower court’s order staying Nigeria’s application for a 20 million British pounds cost order, out of 44.2 million pounds in attorney fees allegedly due, against litigation funders that paid for a defunct Irish-owned engineering company’s unsuccessful litigation against Nigeria to enforce an arbitral award worth more than $11 billion, which was later set aside due to fraud, writing that a more detailed costs assessment is needed.

  • February 20, 2026

    2nd Circuit Affirms Fees To Be Paid By Plaintiff In Tossed Rap Copyright Fight

    NEW YORK — In a summary order issued Feb. 19, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel saw no abuse of discretion in a New York federal judge’s holding that a musician who sued rapper Donald Glover, who performs as Childish Gambino, of copying elements of his song in Glover’s 2018 hit “This Is America” owes the rapper and other defendant entities more than $286,000.

  • February 20, 2026

    23andMe Data Breach MDL Dismissed After Settlements Approved In Bankruptcy Court

    The California federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation against 23andMe Inc. and affiliates for a data breach in which millions of customers’ genetic data and personally identifiable information (PII) was hacked entered an order dismissing 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 and the final approval of a  $3.25 million settlement for Canadian class members.

  • February 20, 2026

    Judge Strikes Motions For Reconsideration In Water Damage Coverage Dispute

    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California issued docket-only orders striking a contractor’s commercial general liability insurer’s motions asking the judge to reconsider his grant of summary judgment to developers on their declaratory judgment and breach of contract claims against the insurer.

  • February 20, 2026

    3rd Circuit: Dealership Sellers Have Right To Attorney Fees After Botched Sale

    PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court’s ruling regarding the purchase of two recreational vehicle dealerships, finding that the purchasers of the dealerships breached their agreement to purchase them but that the lower court was wrong to deny the sellers’ request for recovery of escrow deposits and attorney fees because the agreements provided for the award of those deposits and fees.

  • February 20, 2026

    7th Circuit Awards Reduced Fees To Appellant’s Former Counsel In Malpractice Appeal

    CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals awarded $12,000 in appellate fees to an attorney whose former client filed two appeals after unsuccessfully accusing the attorney of malpractice and has already been ordered to pay a $750 sanction; the awarded fee amount was less than half of the amount requested by the attorney.

  • February 20, 2026

    Nevada Supreme Court: Lower Court Misread Agreement To Include Attorney Fees

    CARSON CITY, Nev. — A panel of the Nevada Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s award of attorney fees to the prevailing party in a long-standing dispute over a real estate commission, stating the lower court misinterpreted the prevailing party provision of the parties’ arbitration agreement when it awarded attorney fees the prevailing party incurred while attempting to collect the arbitration award.

  • February 19, 2026

    Magistrate Recommends Confirming $157K Attorney Fees Award In Insurer’s Favor

    ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida federal magistrate judge on Feb. 18 issued a report and recommendation that the court confirm a JAMS arbitral award worth more than $211,000, comprising arbitration costs and $157,000 in attorney fees incurred by insurers in an ad hoc arbitration in which an insured business’s claim for underpayment was dismissed after it failed to appear at the arbitration hearing.

  • February 19, 2026

    Ohio High Court Grants Reduced Attorney Fees In Privileged Election Email Spat

    COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court awarded attorney fees to an Ohio man whose public records request seeking emails related to a dispute over a primary ballot were initially denied; however, the high court in a per curiam opinion determined that the requester failed to show that the $690 hourly rate for his two attorneys in the case where the high court ordered the release of two emails was justified.

  • February 18, 2026

    Attorney Fees Exceeding $96M Awarded In ERISA Residual Annuities Case

    NEW YORK — Wrapping up a decade-old Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit over residual annuities (RAs) that resulted in a $332 million class settlement, a New York federal judge on Feb. 17 granted awards from the common fund as requested in amounts including $96.28 million for attorney fees and $10,000 for a service award.

  • 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.