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

Mealey's Attorney Fees

May 13, 2025
2nd Circuit: No Abuse Of Discretion In Uniform Reduction Of Attorney Fees

NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals determined that a district court’s application of a uniform 25% reduction to both pre-verdict and post-verdict attorney fees was not an abuse of discretion because the uniform reduction accounted for the limited success at trial of an individual who brought a civil rights action against police officers.
May 13, 2025
After LTD Case Remand To Plan, Parties Dispute Attorney Fee Request

SAN FRANCISCO — Parties in a long-term disability (LTD) benefits case are disputing a $139,650 attorney fee request, with the claimant contending that “a remand for further administrative proceedings is not a trivial success where it is based on a court determination that ERISA rights were violated,” and the defendant arguing in part that no award is warranted under Hummel v. S.E. Rykoff & Co.
May 09, 2025
Philadelphia Inquirer Users Will Receive $27.30 Each To Settle VPPA, Wiretap Suit

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge decreed the settlement of class claims against the Philadelphia Inquirer LLC under the Video Protection Privacy Act (VPPA) and a state wiretap law to be “fair, reasonable, and adequate,” granting final approval to the agreement, under which the newspaper operator will pay more than $1.1 million to cover class members’ claims, costs and attorney fees.
May 09, 2025
7th Circuit Affirms Attorney Fee Denial; Case Never Found A Prevailing Party

ST. LOUIS — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has affirmed a federal district court order denying a motion to find a video gaming company the prevailing party in a dispute because the lower court never reached the merits of the underlying breach-of-contract case.
May 09, 2025
Magistrate Would Dismiss STD Benefits Case As Moot But Let Claimant Seek Fees

CINCINNATI — Defendants that voluntarily reversed the challenged termination of short-term disability (STD) benefits and paid up after being sued could still be liable for attorney fees under the recommendation an Ohio federal magistrate judge issued in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act case.
May 08, 2025
Federal Circuit: Appellants Could Face Sanctions In IP Fight For Faulty Briefing

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Attorneys for two companies that appealed nearly $4 million in judgments against them in a decade-long intellectual property dispute over hookless shower curtains could face sanctions, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in a sua sponte order, if they cannot show how they have not repeatedly violated circuit rules by inappropriately separating arguments between the companies’ respective briefs.
May 07, 2025
Final Approval Given To $9 Million Settlement Of Parking App Data Breach Suit

ATLANTA — Six months after a Georgia federal judge preliminarily approved a $9 million settlement of a class action over a 2021 data breach experienced by the operator of mobile parking apps, he granted a motion for final approval of the deal on May 6, finding it to be “fair, reasonable, adequate, and in the best interests of the Settlement Class.”
May 07, 2025
8th Circuit Won’t Reverse Noninfringement Finding In Website Building Suit

ST. LOUIS — An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the findings of a Missouri federal judge and a federal jury in a sprawling dispute over copyrighted code between two companies owned by members of the same family, along with multiple veterinary companies whose websites were built by a defendant printing company; the panel agreed with the judge’s decision to find in favor of the defendants on copyright infringement claims.
May 07, 2025
5th Circuit Won’t Dismiss Attorney Fee Appeal In ERISA Disability Benefits Dispute

NEW ORLEANS — Without explanation, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied a former National Football League player’s motion to dismiss the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan’s appeal of an award of more than $1.25 million in attorney fees and costs.
May 07, 2025
Final Approval Granted To $362.5M Settlement In Securities Action Against GE

NEW YORK — A $362.5 million settlement between General Electric Co. and investors who alleged that the company violated federal securities laws in relation to its representations regarding its power division’s factoring of long-term receivables was given final approval by a federal judge in New York.
May 06, 2025
R.I. High Court Upholds Attorney Fees Award In Suit Over Open Meeting Access

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Rhode Island Supreme Court affirmed a trial court’s ruling granting an individual $2,500 in attorney fees after the lower court determined that a fire district violated the Open Meetings Act (OMA) by holding a public meeting online and not allowing remote viewers to participate in real time.
May 06, 2025
Final Approval Granted In North Carolina Class Suit Over Health System Data Breach

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A North Carolina business court judge granted a motion for final approval of a $1.17 million settlement of negligence and privacy class claims over a May 2023 data breach experienced by a health care organization.
May 06, 2025
Georgia Enacts Measure Changing Discovery, Damages In Injury, Death Actions

ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law a wide-ranging bill substantially amending how the state’s courts handle civil practice, discovery and tort liability in the state; the measure stays discovery when a party moves for dismissal prior to filing an answer, limits the ability of injured parties to argue at trial about the amount of noneconomic damages in bodily injury and wrongful death cases and limits the recovery of attorney fees.
May 05, 2025
Judge OKs $20M Settlement, $5M Attorney Fees In Apple Watch Swelling Case

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted final approval to a $20 million settlement between Apple Inc. and plaintiffs who sought damages due to a battery swelling defect with early-model Apple Watches that in some cases caused watch screens to detach or shatter and also granted the plaintiffs’ motion for $5 million in attorney fees and nearly a half-million dollars in litigation expenses.
May 05, 2025
Maine High Court Affirms $23,906 Attorney Fee Award In Discovery Dispute

PORTLAND, Maine — The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has affirmed a $23,906 attorney fee awarded in a discovery dispute between two companies, agreeing with a trial court that one party didn’t act in good faith in trying to block a majority shareholder’s discovery of financial documents.
May 05, 2025
9th Circuit: Trial Court Erred In Denying Attorney Fees For Debtor

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has affirmed judgment for a debtor in a loan repayment case but vacated a district court’s denial of attorney fees for the debtor, finding that the debtor’s bankruptcy plan incorporated the promissory note’s attorney fee provision and the debtor was allowed to recover attorney fees under California law.
May 02, 2025
3rd Circuit: Law Firm Must Disgorge Fees For Not Disclosing Bankruptcy Fee Pact

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said a federal district court erred by reversing a bankruptcy court’s sanctioning of a law firm for failing to disclose a new fee agreement with the debtors.
April 29, 2025
$2.4 Million Settlement Of Anesthesia Firms’ Data Breach Gets Final Approval

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The same day that a New York federal judge presided over a fairness hearing for a $2.4 million settlement of a data breach suit against an anesthesia provider management company, he granted final approval of the agreement, disposing of putative class negligence and consumer protection violation claims against the firm and its affiliates in an April 28 order.
April 29, 2025
Government Claims 2023 Immigrant Separation Pact Allows Legal Service Changes

SAN DIEGO — A class settlement agreement approved in 2023 that ended claims by immigrants who sued the U.S. government after being separated from their children permits the government to change its method of providing legal services, the federal government argues in an opposition filed in a federal court in California to a motion by the class to enforce the agreement’s provision of legal services.
April 29, 2025
Recommendation Favors Defendants’ Fee Bid In LTD Lawsuit Involving $30K Offer

TAMPA, Fla. — Concluding in part that a rejected $30,000 offer of judgment made in 2021 was covered by a Florida fee-shifting statute, a Florida federal magistrate judge recommended granting a motion in which defendants in a cardiac surgeon’s lawsuit over denial of a disability benefits claim contend that they are entitled to attorney fees they estimate at $88,148.50.
April 28, 2025
Both Supreme Court And District Court Deny Bids To Stay Patent Suit Sanctions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Both the U.S. Supreme Court and a California federal court blocked requests to stay the entry of sanctions against three lawyers from a law firm representing a patent holder on April 25; the federal magistrate judge presiding over the lower court case said the attorneys failed to show that their pending appeal before the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has a substantial likelihood of success.
April 24, 2025
4th Circuit: Local Court Attorney Fee Matrix Isn’t ‘Presumptively Reasonable’

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has vacated and remanded an attorney fee award in a fair labor practices case, finding that the district court improperly used an outdated local court rule’s attorney fee matrix to determine “presumptively reasonable” rates.
April 24, 2025
Federal Circuit Denies ‘Urgent Requests’ To Consider Motion To Stay Sanctions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an April 23 per curiam order denied a pair of “urgent requests” for ruling on a motion to stay the entry of sanctions against three lawyers from a law firm representing a patent holder, saying the court would rule on the attorneys’ primary motion “in due course”; the order was issued a day after the attorneys filed a notice of application to the U.S. Supreme Court.
April 23, 2025
Idaho High Court: Pattern Of Delay Supports Fees Award, Dismissal Sanction

BOISE, Idaho — A trial court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing a declaratory complaint over a real estate agreement gone bad, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled, finding that state rules provide for sanctions including dismissal and awards of costs and attorney fees for a suit that was unreasonably brought or pursued.
April 23, 2025
High Court Rejects Fee Petition From Company Liable For Counterfeits

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear arguments from a distribution company and the man who controls it, who argued that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to uphold the entry of attorney fees against them in a trademark infringement suit; the petitioners were found liable for selling counterfeited beauty products.