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Mealey's Attorney Fees

  • October 14, 2024

    Appeal And Attorney Fee Bid Are Dropped In ERISA Imprudence Case

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — An appeal filed after defendants won on all claims after a bench trial in a consolidated Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over 401(k) fees and funds has been voluntarily dismissed with prejudice pursuant to a stipulation, and the defendants told a California federal court they are withdrawing a fee award request and an application to tax costs.

  • October 11, 2024

    Federal Circuit Vacates Claim Construction, Summary Judgment, Fees In Patent Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Nevada erred in construing the claim “automatically detecting” in a patent dispute between two technology companies, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals said Oct. 10; the panel reversed the entry of summary judgment of noninfringement in the defendant company’s favor and vacated the award of nearly $6.9 million in attorney fees.

  • October 11, 2024

    Disability Insurer Says Claimant Not Entitled To More Than $445K In Attorney Fees

    MINNEAPOLIS — A disability plan participant is not entitled to more than $445,000 in attorney fees because the participant’s submissions in support of the requested amount are based on unreasonable hourly rates and unsupported time entries, a disability insurer says in its response to the participant’s motion for attorney fees filed in Minnesota federal court.

  • October 10, 2024

    $2.72M In Fees And Costs Awarded In ERISA Row Involving Withdrawal Liability

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Making slight reductions and reproaching “the defendants’ contumacy and intractability,” a District of Columbia federal court judge awarded attorney fees of $2,533,576.52 and costs of $187,769.17, both subject to postjudgment interest, in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act withdrawal liability case.

  • October 10, 2024

    Judge Remands California Labeling Suit Against Kroger, Awards Attorney Fees

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on Oct. 9 remanded a lawsuit brought by two California county district attorneys against Kroger Co. for allegedly violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and false advertising law (FAL) by misrepresenting caloric content on certain products and awarded the plaintiffs attorney fees after finding that Kroger “lacked an objectively reasonable basis for seeking removal.”

  • October 09, 2024

    Final Approval Granted To $75M Settlement, Fees In Investor Suit Against Tech Firm

    SAN DIEGO — In a securities class action, a California federal judge granted final approval to a $75 million settlement and awarded the plaintiffs’ counsel 23% of the settlement fund for attorney fees, bringing an end to claims brought by investors in Qualcomm Inc. against the company and certain of its executives alleging that the company issued false claims to investors about certain company practices.

  • October 09, 2024

    $6 Million Settlement Of MDL Over Health Care Firms’ Data Breach Gets Final OK

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Six months after he preliminarily approved a $6 million settlement of a multidistrict litigation over a 2020 data breach experienced by a pediatric medical services provider, a Florida federal judge granted a motion by the plaintiffs for final approval of that settlement, as well as an accompanying motion for attorney fees and costs.

  • October 09, 2024

    2nd Circuit: Keyword Search Ads Based On Trademarks Not Infringing

    NEW YORK — Affirming a New York federal judge’s entry of judgment on the pleadings in a trademark dispute between competing eyewear brands, the Second Circuit U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Oct. 8 said that “the mere act of purchasing a search engine keyword that is a competitor’s trademark does not alone, in the context of keyword search advertising, constitute trademark infringement.”

  • October 09, 2024

    7th Circuit: No Fees In Trademark Dispute Over Pipes For Smoking

    CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois was right to deny a smoking pipe manufacturer’s motion for attorney fees after a plaintiff trademark owner voluntarily dismissed with prejudice his infringement claim against the company, a panel of the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held, finding that the defendant company failed to show how the case is “exceptional” as required for attorney fees under the Lanham Act.

  • October 09, 2024

    $490M Settlement Between Apple, Investors Over IPhone Sales Gets Final OK

    OAKLAND, Calif. — Finding it “fair, adequate, and reasonable,” a federal judge in California granted final approval of a $490 million settlement in a class complaint brought by investors in Apple Inc. who say the company’s CEO issued misleading statements about Apple’s sales of iPhones in China and awarded class counsel $107.8 million, or 22% of the settlement fund, in attorney fees.

  • October 08, 2024

    U.S. High Court Hears Arguments On Preliminary Injunction And Attorney Fees

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A preliminary injunction is nothing more than “a threshold prediction of the likelihood of success based on a truncated record” and can’t make a plaintiff a prevailing party for the purposes of awarding attorney fees, an attorney representing the commissioner of the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles argued Oct. 8 before the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • October 08, 2024

    3rd Circuit Affirms Rulings For Former Exec In ERISA ‘Top Hat’ Benefits Row

    PHILADELPHIA — Upholding rulings issued after a bench trial, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in a nonprecedential disposition that the rate used to calculate a lump sum distribution was unreasonable under the terms of the “top hat” supplemental executive retirement plan (SERP) at issue and that there was no clear error in the finding that the board “acted in bad faith.”

  • October 08, 2024

    $500K Attorney Fee Deal Struck, Appeal Over ESG Factor Ruling Dropped

    JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Missouri federal judge has adopted a stipulation in which Missouri state officials agreed to a $500,000 attorney fee award and dismissal with prejudice of their appeal of a ruling that imposed a statewide permanent injunction barring enforcement of parts of two new rules a trade association said would have required “a state-authored script” for “incorporating a social or nonfinancial objective into investment advice.”

  • October 07, 2024

    Settlement With ‘Landmark’ $10M Recovery Gets Initial OK In Mortality Table Row

    CHICAGO — An Illinois federal granted preliminary approval to a class settlement including what retirees said would be a “landmark recovery” of $10 million on Oct. 4; the proposal in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over allegedly outdated mortality tables used to calculate joint and survivor annuity (JSA) benefits in two Citgo Petroleum Corp. pension plans also includes up to $4.75 million for attorney fees, expenses and service awards.

  • October 07, 2024

    Appeals Court Says Lower Court Failed To Follow Guidelines For Insolvent Estates

    JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi appeals court reversed and remanded a lower court’s final judgment ordering payment of creditors’ claims and closing a decedent’s insolvent estate, which gave priority to attorney fee claims but denied other claims, finding that because the lower court failed to provide evidence to show that it complied with insolvent estate statutory requirements, the judgment must be reversed and remanded.

  • October 04, 2024

    Federal Judge Grants Attorney Fees To Defendant In FTC Deception Case

    ATLANTA — A federal judge in Georgia granted partial attorney fees to one of two men the Federal Trade Commission alleged were involved in deceptively marketing and selling discount club memberships through online landing pages and telemarketing calls.

  • October 03, 2024

    Retirees: $10M Would Be ‘Landmark Recovery’ In Actuarial Equivalence Case

    CHICAGO — Saying it would be a “landmark recovery,” retirees who filed an Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit over allegedly outdated mortality tables used to calculate joint and survivor annuity (JSA) benefits in two Citgo Petroleum Corp. pension plans on Oct. 2 asked an Illinois federal court for preliminary approval of a $10 million class settlement plus up to $4.75 million for attorney fees, expenses and service awards.

  • October 03, 2024

    10th Circuit Addresses ERISA Disclosures In Coverage Dispute Ruling

    DENVER — On review of several decisions in a case over residential treatment coverage, a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated summary judgment for the insureds on a Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (Parity Act) claim for lack of standing and, in “an issue of first impression in this circuit,” ruled that an administrative services agreement (ASA) falls within an Employee Retirement Income Security Act disclosure requirement.

  • October 03, 2024

    Jury Award In Favor Of Homeowners, Against Contractor Supported By Evidence

    DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Court of Appeals on Oct. 2 affirmed a jury verdict entered in favor of homeowners and against a contractor in a contract dispute after determining that the verdict on the homeowners’ breach of contract and consumer fraud claims is supported by “substantial evidence.”

  • October 02, 2024

    Fracking Fluids Company Wins More Than $514,885 For Breach Of Contract

    HOUSTON — A federal judge in Texas has awarded a drilling fluids company a combined $514,885.08 for breach of contract, attorney fees and interest in a dispute over an agreement between the fluid company and a hydraulic fracturing services operator.  The judge said the fracking services operator presented no evidence to support its position that it did not owe payment pursuant to the contract.

  • October 01, 2024

    Certification For Appeal Of Interim Attorney Fees Denied In Clean Water Act Case

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge in California in a docket entry denied a request by two cities for reconsideration of interim attorney fees and for certification of the fee order as final but stayed until October enforcement of the order that granted fees to an environmental organization that sued the cities under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for discharging bacteria pollution from stormwater sewer systems.

  • October 01, 2024

    More Than $17.3M In Attorney Fees Awarded After Royalty Class Settlement

    DENVER — A federal judge in Oklahoma granted a renewed motion for $17,333,333 in attorney fees in an oil and gas royalty payments class lawsuit that has gone on for more than a dozen years and that was settled for $52 million, finding that the requested fees were “reasonable” and opining that distribution of the “fees among class counsel is a matter within their sole discretion.”

  • September 30, 2024

    E-Cig MDL Plaintiffs Seek Fees After Altria Settles Tribal Claims

    SAN FRANCISCO — The last remaining claims in a California federal court multidistrict litigation against e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. (JLI), tobacco company Altria Group Inc. and its subsidiaries have been settled, according to a Sept. 27 filing by the plaintiffs’ fee committee asking the court to approve fees and costs of roughly $1.2 million in connection with the settlement of Indian tribes’ claims against Altria.

  • September 30, 2024

    Man Appeals Approval Of $600M Ohio Train Deal, As Judge Grants Fee Award

    YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — One of the plaintiffs opposing the $600 million settlement in the litigation against Norfolk Southern Corp. over the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that released toxic chemicals into the air and soil on Sept. 27 filed a one-page notice of appeal with the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after the Ohio federal judge presiding over the case issued an order granting final approval to the deal on the same day.  In a separate order, the judge granted attorney fees of $162 million.

  • September 27, 2024

    Farmers, USDA Spar Over Decision Regulators Made On Remand Of Crop Insurance Row

    BAY CITY, Mich. — Farmers and federal regulators are again sparring in a Michigan federal court over a crop insurance dispute involving a dry-bean revenue endorsement (DBRE), with issues of contention now including whether the court retains jurisdiction after having awarded attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) and whether regulators followed the court’s directions on remand.