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November 13, 2026
ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida federal judge on Nov. 12 awarded more than $23,000 in attorney fees and costs in favor of a Singaporean agricultural company and against a Florida company the court previously sanctioned for bringing a “frivolous” petition to vacate a Refined Sugar Association (RSA) panel’s arbitral award against it worth more than $150,000.
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November 13, 2026
As of Nov. 12, a series of Florida appellate court rulings has established that generally the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) is not liable for attorney fees regarding settlements that were reached in litigation with insurers before their insolvency. However, recently, appellate courts, in reaching their decisions, have focused on whether settlement proceeds were specifically designated as attorney fees and whether the payment of those fees falls under covered claims for which FIGA is statutorily responsible.
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November 13, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed a Delaware federal judge’s issuance of an attorney fee award of $9.1 million in a dispute over dietary supplement patents, finding that the patentholder’s ultimately unsuccessful infringement claims were not totally meritless to make the case “exceptional” for attorney fees.
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November 13, 2026
SEATTLE — A Washington trial court erred in issuing $2,500 sanctions each against four attorneys representing Pharmacia LLC, a successor to Monsanto Co., in a polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) exposure case for the late disclosure of expert witnesses because Washington Superior Court Civil Rule 37(b)(2) “does not authorize personal punitive sanctions for violation of a discovery order,” a Washington appellate court panel ruled in an unpublished opinion, reversing the sanctions and remanding for the trial court to vacate the sanctions.
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November 13, 2026
NEW YORK — Finding no abuse of discretion in a ruling that granted terminating sanctions for discovery noncompliance in an insurance case and imposed attorney fees on the appellant’s counsel, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed in a summary order.
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November 13, 2026
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Supreme Court affirmed a default judgment in favor of a marketing firm in a contract dispute with a management company because the management company failed to establish it had a meritorious defense to the marketing firm’s claims, but reversed an attorney fee order, finding that the marketing firm did not provide any evidence of the time its counsel spent on the case.
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November 12, 2026
ST. LOUIS — An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s judgment against a former employee who was found liable for misappropriating his former employer’s trade secrets when he left to work for a competitor, but vacated an attorney fee award because the lower court did not consider whether the company’s degree of success justified the fees awarded.
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November 12, 2026
PHILADELPHIA — A split Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed an attorney fee award to voters whose mail-in ballots were counted under a court order, holding that they remained prevailing parties and, thus, entitled to fees, even though the U.S. Supreme Court subsequently vacated the underlying judgment on mootness grounds.
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November 11, 2026
WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware Chancery Court vice chancellor on Nov. 10 adopted a magistrate’s report with clarification and ruled in favor of a U.S. fintech company’s former CEO who brought a claim against the company for advancement of attorney fees that he has incurred and will continue to incur while arbitrating a dispute before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) that was brought against him by the U.S. company and an Israeli company that purchased it.
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November 11, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — A split panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s finding that the United States is liable under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) for a hostage’s fatal shooting by a federal agent during an unsuccessful rescue operation but ordered restoration of the original $1,915,000 damages award, with attorney fees limited to 25% of that recovery, finding that the lower court erred by increasing the damage award to accommodate attorney fees.
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November 11, 2026
PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court held that homeowners who defeated a neighbor’s suit to enforce an antinuisance covenant were entitled to reasonable attorney fees under the mandatory fee provision of the covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs), finding that the CC&Rs were enforceable as contractual obligations even though common law also prohibits nuisances.
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November 06, 2026
OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal judge in California gave final approval to a $69 million settlement that ends a securities fraud class action brought by investors alleging that a biopharmaceutical company and its CEO made false statements about the safety, efficacy and application for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of its proprietary vasculitis drug.
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November 05, 2026
ATLANTA — Following final approval of a $47.75 million class deal under which class members will have an average gross recovery of more than $252,000, a Nov. 4 judgment entered in Georgia federal court wrapped up a long-running suit over lump-sum payments from terminated “top hat” plans that had provided life annuities for NCR Corp. executives.
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November 05, 2026
NEW YORK — Tylenol manufacturer Kenvue Brands LLC urged the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold sanctions against Keller Postman LLC and Ashley C. Keller and reject their request to reassign the acetaminophen autism spectrum disorder-attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ASD-ADHD) multidistrict litigation, arguing that the trial judge acted within her discretion.
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November 04, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted final approval of a $47.75 million settlement to end a securities class action alleging that Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. (HEI) and certain executives inflated the company’s stock price by misleading investors about its efforts to mitigate wild fire risk before the August 2023 Maui fires but cut the amount of requested attorney fees from 30% of the fund to 20% after finding problems with the counsel’s billing.
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November 04, 2026
OAKLAND, Calif. — Noting that only one of the 220 class members had opted out of the settlement in the decade-old Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over severance benefits, a California federal judge issued a final approval order under which class members will receive payments totaling more than $9,531,455 and class counsel will separately get $3.5 million for attorney fees and costs.
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October 30, 2026
BALTIMORE — Overruling objections, a Maryland federal judge granted final approval to a class settlement implementing rescoring of neuropsychological test scores to resolve a suit former NFL players filed over what they alleged was “race-norming” of the scores used to determine whether they receive disability and related benefits.
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October 29, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals consolidated two appeals filed by a construction products supplier challenging a California federal judge’s award of attorney fees and costs and denial of judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) and judgment on a verdict awarding an African American employee $5 million in noneconomic damages after establishing a hostile work environment based on race under Title VII and based on race or disability under California's Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA).
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October 27, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — American Honda Motor Company Inc.’s nearly year-and-a-half appeal of a trial court’s award of attorney fees and costs that was much larger than the monetary settlement for a consumer class who alleged defective HandsFreeLink (HFL) Bluetooth systems in certain Acura vehicles that cause excessive electric drain was terminated by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after the parties notified the appellate court that they reached a settlement.
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October 23, 2026
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — In an insurer’s suit seeking a judgment finding a policy void and that the insurer was entitled to rescind the policy for alleged misrepresentations in the policy application, a New York appellate court ordered modification of the lower court’s judgment to delete a dismissal provision and replace the provision effectively denying fees with one granting the fee application, finding that the defendants are entitled to attorney fees and costs.
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October 23, 2026
PHOENIX — An Arizona federal judge granted final approval to a $3.03 million privacy class action settlement with LifeStance Health Group Inc., including more than $1 million in attorney fees, after previously denying preliminary approval of an earlier agreement over concerns about inadequate settlement valuation, disproportionate attorney fees and potential collusion.
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October 22, 2026
SEATTLE — A day after conducting a fairness hearing in a case that was among the many challenging a common use of forfeited nonvested matching retirement contributions, a Washington federal judge on Oct. 21 issued an order granting final approval of a settlement with an estimated value of $42,724,532 and approving the requested awards of $5,880,539 for attorney fees, $24,461 for litigation costs and $5,000 as a service award to the named plaintiff.
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October 22, 2026
NEW YORK — A federal judge approved a proposal for a former employee of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) to receive more than half of the net proceeds of a confidential settlement amount over claims that the bank failed to accommodate her religious beliefs when it denied her request for permanent exemption from its COVID-19 vaccination policy while denying additional compensation for her former legal counsel.
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October 21, 2026
BOSTON — Resolving cross-appeals in a presumptive total disability insurance case where the claimant partly prevailed after a jury trial and a bench trial, the Massachusetts Appeals Court issued a summary decision declining to disturb any of the challenged rulings but concluding that the claimant was entitled to unspecified attorney fees and expenses in defending against the insurer’s appeal as to a state law claim.
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October 16, 2026
HELENA, Mont. — The Montana Supreme Court is considering whether the Montana Board of Environmental Review has jurisdiction in an administrative proceeding under the Montana Strip and Underground Mine Reclamation Act to award attorney fees against conservation groups that the board found acted in bad faith in order to harass a mining company.