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Mealey's Attorney Fees

  • April 17, 2026

    D.C. Circuit Remands Decision Denying Firm’s Motion To Enforce Charging Lien

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated a decision to deny law firm’s motion to enforce its charging lien entitling it to the attorney fees its client was awarded, finding that the lower court erred by requiring the firm to satisfy both parts of the legal framework governing charging liens in the firm’s home state of Indiana.

  • April 17, 2026

    9th Circuit: Interest Accrues After Definite, Certain Designation Of Fees

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s holding that postjudgment interest on attorney fees accrued after the award of attorney fees rather than the date a settlement was reached, holding that “a definite and certain designation of the amount” owed is required before postjudgment interest begins to accrue.

  • April 17, 2026

    8th Circuit Affirms Attorney Fee Award, Reverses Expert Fees And Interest Rate

    ST. LOUIS — After nine years of litigation, an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals addressed the last aspect of a fraudulent transfer dispute, the awarding of attorney fees, finding that while the $5.8 million awarded in fees was appropriate, a lower court was wrong to award expert witness fees and erred in calculating prejudgment interest using a 14% interest rate rather than applying Missouri’s statutory 9% interest rate.

  • April 17, 2026

    Hawaii Judge Denies $20.25M Attorney Fee Request After Maui Fire Settlement

    WAILUKU, Hawaii — A more than $4 billion global settlement that included a $135 million class settlement fund for those who suffered losses as a result of August 2023 wildfires in Hawaii was the result “of the work of remarkable people exercising herculean efforts,” but class counsel’s request for $20.25 million for fees that included nearly $1 million for Hawaii’s General Excise Tax (GET) is unreasonable as “[i]t would defy credulity that the taxpayers would not only pay attorneys fees but also the taxes owed upon it,” a Hawaii judge ruled, adding in a footnote that the taxes are “a matter of contract between the attorney and client.”

  • April 16, 2026

    Delaware High Court Applies ERISA In Litigation Expenses Advancement Row

    NEW CASTLE, Del. — In a unanimous en banc reversal of the Delaware Court of Chancery, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 does not bar “advancement of litigation expenses for the defense of state-law claims brought in state court” because the facts show that the advancement “does not relieve Defendants from ERISA responsibility or liability.”

  • April 16, 2026

    Soda Company’s $8.9M Settlement For ‘Prebiotic’ Claims Gets Final OK

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted final approval to an $8.9 million settlement resolving claims brought against the manufacturer of a soda product for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by deceptively labeling its soda as “Prebiotic” and “gut healthy,” but withheld implementation of the settlement pending a final decision on attorney fees.

  • April 16, 2026

    Sanctioned Attorneys Were Reckless, Not Mistaken, Walmart Tells 9th Circuit

    SAN FRANCISCO — Walmart Inc. urges the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold a $623,000 attorney fee sanction against two attorneys in its answer to their petition for a writ of mandamus challenging the sanctions, writing that the lawyers “recklessly” used a false allegation to pursue months of litigation against Walmart for allegedly mislabeling its avocado oil.

  • April 16, 2026

    2nd Circuit Affirms That Requested Attorney Fees Were Excessive

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the judgment of a lower court awarding a lower amount of attorney fees to an electronic door installer, its parent company and president after granting summary judgment in their favor in a case brought by a competitor against them and other competitors, agreeing with the lower court that the requested fees were excessive because the requested fees were more than the fees requested by another defendant whose litigation in the case was similar.

  • April 16, 2026

    Attorney Fee Distribution Upheld After Anticompetitive Tying Class Settlement

    SAN FRANCISCO — The court-appointed lead class counsel in a more than decade-long lawsuit accusing Sutter Health of monopolizing northern California hospital markets to raise prices and decrease competition had the authority to allocate attorney fees to multiple firms following a $228.5 million settlement approved in November and did so in a “reasonable and fair” manner, a federal magistrate judge in California ruled, denying a motion by one of the firms to enforce the order awarding fees.

  • April 16, 2026

    Federal Circuit Finds It Lacks Jurisdiction To Review Veterans Court Fee Award

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel dismissed an attorney’s appeal of a U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims decision affirming a decision that the fees the attorney received were unreasonable; the appellate panel found that it lacked jurisdiction to review attorney fees award decisions issued by the Veterans Court.

  • April 14, 2026

    Settlement Of More Than $7.6M Approved In Swimming Competition Antitrust Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — World Aquatics (formerly known as Fédération Internationale de Natation [FINA]) will pay $7,627,084 and change restrictions for professional swimmers to end a more than seven-year-long class lawsuit by swimmers who accused it of antitrust violations arising from its control of international swimming competitions and swimmers’ pay, according to an order by a federal judge in California granting final settlement approval.

  • April 10, 2026

    Judge Approves $12.5M Deal To End Stock Drop Suit Against Health Care Company

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted final approval to a $12.5 million settlement entered into by investors and a health care company and its president to end a suit the investors brought alleging the defendants misled investors about the president’s education and the company’s contracts.

  • April 10, 2026

    4 Settlements Totaling $44.05M OK’d In Home Sellers’ Commissions Conspiracy Case

    ATLANTA — Four real estate brokerages will pay a total of $44.05 million to end home sellers’ putative class claims accusing them of engaging in a nationwide conspiracy with the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and other brokerages to artificially inflate broker compensation, according to settlement agreements that were granted final approval by a federal judge in Georgia over two objections, one of which was made by plaintiffs in two similar class suits who accused two of the settling defendants of conducting a “reverse auction.”

  • April 09, 2026

    Judge Finds Trademark Default ‘Exceptional’ For Purpose Of Attorney Fees

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge held that a defaulting defendant engineering entity owes more than $30,000 in attorney fees because a plaintiff information technology (IT) company that brought trademark infringement claims had managed to illustrate the “exceptional” nature of the case.

  • April 08, 2026

    9th Circuit Says Homeowners Lack Standing To Sue Anchor Maker, Affirms Sanctions

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated a judgment on the pleadings in favor of two companies accused in a long-running putative class suit of selling homeowners defective anchors and said the case should have been dismissed for lack of standing.  The panel split in affirming $85,000 in attorney fees as sanction against the plaintiffs for filing a “baseless” complaint.

  • April 07, 2026

    Split 9th Circuit: Lower Court Wrong To Deny Motion For Fees After Settlement

    PHOENIX — A split panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found that a lower court was wrong to deny an Indigenous church and its members’ motion for attorney fees in its case against the U.S. attorney general, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection after the parties filed a notice of settlement, finding that the lower court had retained jurisdiction to resolve attorney fees.

  • April 06, 2026

    $2.1M Award In ‘Chipmunks’ Dispute Confirmed Despite Functus Officio Challenge

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge confirmed an arbitral award worth more than $2.1 million in damages and attorney fees in a favor of a French company that brought claims against the owner of the “Alvin and the Chipmunks” franchise, opining that while the arbitrator’s amendment of the award to triple the damages likely contradicted the doctrine of functus officio, the arbitrator did not exceed his authority under the applicable arbitration rules.

  • April 06, 2026

    8th Circuit Affirms Fees Against Plaintiff Firm In Floor Plan Fair Use Case

    ST. LOUIS — An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Missouri federal judge’s holding that a design company owed two real estate agents and affiliated entities a combined total of more than $230,000 in attorney fees, noting the lack of evidentiary support for many of the design company’s claims that the realtors had infringed copyrighted floor plans in resale listings.

  • April 03, 2026

    8th Circuit Affirms Fee Award In Toy Company, Manufacturer Contract Dispute

    ST. LOUIS — An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s award of attorney fees and expenses to a toy company that prevailed in a contract dispute brought by a fandom merchandise manufacturer, finding that the toy company’s motion for attorney fees was not untimely and that the fees were recoverable under state law.

  • April 02, 2026

    Ala. Federal Judge Upholds Most Of $3.6M Jury Award In Fired Motel Worker’s Suit

    ANNISTON, Ala. — In two orders and a memorandum opinion, a federal judge in Alabama partially granted a fired motel employee’s motion for attorney fees and costs and held that she is still entitled to the bulk of a jury’s more than $3.6 million award, minus a slight reduction in back pay, in compensatory and punitive damages for claims of retaliation, private intrusion and intentional infliction of emotional distress stemming from allegations of racial and sexual harassment by an executive at the company.

  • March 31, 2026

    High Court Rejects Certiorari In Counterfeiting Row With $9.3M Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 30 rejected a petition for a writ of certiorari from supplement makers accused of counterfeiting who argued that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to affirm a California federal judge’s entry of a $4 million judgment and award of nearly $5.3 million in attorney fees after the judge entered default judgment against the petitioners; the justices will not consider arguments that the Ninth Circuit wrongly held that mere registration can satisfy the trademark infringement standard.

  • March 31, 2026

    With Objections Resolved, Residential Treatment Deal Wins Final Approval

    UTICA, N.Y. — Following an agreement that resolved objections, a New York federal judge on March 30 granted final approval to a $1,415,000 settlement that concludes a class action concerning allegations that United Behavioral Health violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by issuing blanket denials for residential treatments for mental health and chemical dependency claims when it considered even a single aspect of the facility’s treatment experimental.

  • March 30, 2026

    Federal Circuit Upholds Approval Of $125M PACER Class Settlement

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An attorney who, proceeding as a pro se objector, has challenged the approval of a number of class action settlements failed to convince the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction or abused its discretion when it approved a $125 million Public Access to Court Electronic Records system (PACER) fees class settlement that will provide hundreds of thousands of PACER users with “substantial” reimbursements for all PACER fees paid during an eight-year class period.

  • March 30, 2026

    Dollar General’s Deceptive Pricing Class Settlement Valued At $15M Approved

    NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — A New Jersey judge granted final approval of a class settlement between consumers and Dolgencorp LLC, doing business as Dollar General, in a case alleging deceptive pricing practices that will provide $8.5 million for the common fund and other injunctive relief in the form of discounts valued at $6.5 million.

  • March 30, 2026

    5th Circuit Finds Lower Court Properly Awarded Fees In Remand Order

    NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s grant of attorney fees in favor of a construction equipment dealer/distributor when it granted the dealer’s motion to remand the contract dispute the dealer brought against a construction equipment manufacturer to state court, finding that the lower court did not abuse its discretion in imposing the fees.