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Mealey's Attorney Fees

  • April 23, 2026

    9th Circuit: Judge Should Have Considered Merits Of New Copyright Trial Motion

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled April 22 that a California federal judge too rigidly applied local rules when denying a new trial motion from defendant entities found liable for willful copyright infringement through their distribution of DVDs of a Christian film; the panel’s opinion resolves three consolidated appeals from the case.

  • April 22, 2026

    $84M Class Settlement Wins Final OK In Suit Over ESOP Dividends Use

    MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge granted final approval to an $84 million settlement and then closed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit that concerned allegations that Wells Fargo & Co. improperly used dividends of its preferred stock held in its 401(k)’s employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) fund; the judge noted that the defendants didn’t contest the plaintiffs’ assertion “that the settlement is ‘the largest-ever class action settlement of ERISA claims arising from an employee stock ownership plan.’”

  • April 22, 2026

    Federal Circuit: Alleged Implant Trade Secrets Disclosed By Prior Art Patents

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In two opinions, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that the evidence did not support a California federal jury’s determination that defendant medical entities in a sprawling dispute over a cosmetic penile implant device had misappropriated trade secrets; the panel found that all alleged trade secrets had been publicly disclosed in prior art patents.

  • April 22, 2026

    Judge Denies Reconsideration, Grants Final Judgment In Defects Coverage Dispute

    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California denied an insurer’s motion to reconsider the judge’s grant of summary judgment to developers in the developers’ case seeking coverage for construction defects and granted the developer’s motion for entry of final judgment against the insurer, finding the motion for reconsideration to be untimely and, because that motion was denied, that the motion for entry of final judgment should be granted.

  • April 22, 2026

    Data Breach Settlement Gets Final Approval; Objection To Attorney Fee Award Denied

    TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida federal judge granted final approval of a $650,000 data breach class settlement against a beverage company, certifying a nationwide class and awarding one-third in attorney fees over the company’s objection, after earlier denying preliminary approval and requiring the plaintiff to cure deficiencies in the settlement papers in a case arising from a cyberattack that allegedly exposed employees’ personal information.

  • April 21, 2026

    High Court Rejects Challenge To 9th Circuit Lamp Photo Infringement Reversal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 20 rejected an artist’s petition for a writ of certiorari, leaving in place a partly split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opinion that reversed a California federal jury’s finding that Walmart Inc. had infringed copyrighted photos of the artist’s jellyfish-shaped lamps; the high court refused to hear arguments suggesting that the Ninth Circuit improperly considered the sufficiency of trial evidence while weighing a pretrial motion.

  • April 21, 2026

    Judge Adopts Recommendation, Confirms $119,000 Attorney Fee Award In Airline Dispute

    MIAMI — A Florida federal judge adopted a magistrate’s report and recommendation and confirmed an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) award resolving a dispute between shareholders in a Venezuelan airline, ordering the respondent to pay more than $119,000 in attorney fees awarded by the tribunal plus interest and declining to award additional fees incurred litigating the matter in federal court.

  • April 21, 2026

    Florida Panel Affirms Ruling Limiting Attorney Fees In Coverage Dispute With FIGA

    LAKELAND, Fla.  — A Florida appellate court affirmed a lower court ruling granting attorney fees to a medical practice in its dispute with the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) over payment for medical treatment for a patient insured by a now-insolvent insurer, agreeing with the lower court that the practice is not entitled to attorney fees incurred prior to the insurer’s insolvency because the litigation occurring prior to the insolvency was not related to FIGA’s denial of coverage.

  • April 17, 2026

    Motion For Over $2M In Attorney Fees Denied In FCA Cardiac Catheterizations Suit

    RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge denied a motion for attorney fees filed by a cardiology practice in a qui tam suit alleging that the practice and physicians violated the False Claims Act (FCA) and related North Carolina law by billing government insurers for unnecessary cardiac catheterizations, finding the assertion by the United States and North Carolina that the defendants submitted false claims for procedures that were not medically necessary and with disregard for the truth “substantially justified.”

  • 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.