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Mealey's Attorney Fees

  • 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.

  • January 22, 2026

    Shipping Investor Seeks Attorney Fees For ‘Hidden’ Fraud Evidence In Arbitration

    NEW YORK — A shipping investor filed a motion in New York federal court for sanctions and an award of attorney fees against Reed Smith LLP, Greenberg Traurig LLP and an attorney at each firm, writing that they improperly sought confirmation of a JAMS award worth more than $102 million despite allegedly “knowing” that it “had been obtained through fraud” and that a judge vacated due to “false testimony.”

  • January 22, 2026

    $5.48 Million Settlement Of Suit Over Analytics Firm’s Data Breach Approved

    NEWARK, N.J. — Seven months after preliminarily approving a settlement of $5,482,500 to resolve a consolidated class action over claims stemming from a 2023 data breach experienced by a health-oriented data management firm, a New Jersey federal magistrate judge granted final approval to the agreement as being “fair, reasonable, and adequate.”

  • January 22, 2026

    Iowa High Court Affirms Ruling Denying Attorney Fee Award In Rental Trespass Row

    DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling upholding a small claims court decision awarding rental costs in a dispute over trespass between a landlord and tenants but declining to award attorney fees to the tenants, finding that the record supports the lower court’s damages determination and the lower court correctly found that Iowa landlord-tenant law related to attorney fees does not apply in this case.

  • January 20, 2026

    Radiology Provider Settles Data Breach Class Claims For $1.5M Plus Monitoring, Fees

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A radiology service provider will pay $1.5 million to those patients whose data were accessed during a cyberattack who can demonstrate loss, will provide medical data monitoring valued at more than $186 million to all class members and will pay class counsel $2.85 million, according to a settlement agreement granted final approval by a Florida judge.

  • January 16, 2026

    $30 Million Settlement Of Kids’ Privacy Suit Against Google Gets Final OK

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — About four months after preliminarily approving a $30 million agreement that would settle invasion of privacy claims against YouTube LLC and Google LLC (Google, collectively) for the purported collection of minors’ personally identifiable information (PII) in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a California federal magistrate judge granted a final approval motion, ending the more than six-year-old class action.

  • January 16, 2026

    Fla. Panel Reverses Order As To Attorney Fees In Settlement Agreement With FIGA

    MIAMI — A Florida appeals court reversed and remanded a lower court order requiring the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) to pay the full amount of a settlement agreement between homeowners and their now-insolvent insurer in a hurricane damage coverage dispute, finding that the lower court erred in requiring FIGA to pay the attorney fee portion of the settlement agreement because it was not part of a covered claim pursuant to Florida law regarding FIGA.

  • January 16, 2026

    Tribunal Awards $556K For Azerbaijan Ignoring Travel Ban Order

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published a tribunal’s interim order awarding U.K. investors more than $556,000 in attorney fees and costs incurred in their unsuccessful attempts to obtain Azerbaijan’s compliance with a prior tribunal order requiring it to lift its travel ban on a dead investor’s son.

  • January 15, 2026

    Judge Finds Fraud In Shipping Arbitration, Vacates Award And Issues Sanctions

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge vacated a JAMS arbitral award worth more than $102 million after finding the original award-creditors “purposefully presented false testimony at the arbitration” regarding a dispositive issue in the dispute, issued sanctions against them for failure to comply with discovery orders and ordered them to pay attorney fees, saying their former law firm “crossed” a “line” in the arbitration without finding it “complicit in its clients’ perjury.”

  • January 14, 2026

    Washington Federal Judge Trims Attorney Fees In Remanded ERISA Disability Case

    SEATTLE — Addressing an opposed request for attorney fees totaling $239,390 in a long-term disability (LTD) benefits case involving long COVID that was remanded to the administrator for full consideration because of a “substantial” procedural error, a Washington federal judge on Jan. 13 reduced the hours and the blended hourly rate, concluding that the appropriate fee award in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case is $112,050.

  • January 14, 2026

    Judge Remands Suit Against Insurer For Data Sharing, Denies Attorney Fee Request

    SAN FRANCISCO — Writing that a dental insurer engaged in “dubious” tactics by “removing based on federal jurisdiction then turning around and challenging federal standing,” a California federal judge denied the insurer’s motion to dismiss and instead remanded a putative class action against it for allegedly sharing insureds’ online data without consent, but denied the plaintiff’s request to consider attorney fees.

  • January 13, 2026

    Risk Pool Rebuts Reinsurer’s Dissolution Claim In Arbitration Dispute

    NEW YORK — An intergovernmental risk pool told a New York federal court that a reinsurer baselessly alleged that it was dissolved without notice when the reinsurer urged the court to rule on pending cross-petitions in an arbitration awards dispute involving attorney fees and whether there was a probability or a possibility of an excess judgment in an underlying case.

  • January 13, 2026

    Insurer Cannot Recoup More Than $721K In Attorney Fees, Costs, Judge Says

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal judge partially denied an insurer’s motion to recoup more than $721,000 in attorney fees, costs and interest deposited with the court in a coverage dispute over environmental contamination costs owed to an insured after determining that the insurer failed to show that the fees and costs billed by the insureds are unreasonable.

  • January 12, 2026

    High Court Denies Cigar Maker’s Petition For Review Of Voluntary Dismissal Issue

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 12 denied a cigar maker’s petition for a writ of certiorari challenging the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ latest ruling on a long-running dispute between it and rival tobacco companies over antitrust and breach of contract claims, in which the petitioner argued that the Ninth Circuit “deepened” a circuit split by hearing an appeal in which the respondents allegedly “manufactured finality.”