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Mealey's Attorney Fees

  • February 05, 2025

    9th Circuit: Former Church Member Lost License To Share Teachings In 2021

    SEATTLE — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with a Washington federal judge that a former member of a Seattle-based religious community did not breach a licensing agreement by uploading copyrighted church materials after the 1999 death of the organization’s founder but reversed the judge’s finding that the license was terminated in 2021.

  • February 04, 2025

    Florida Judge Gives Final OK To $6.8 Million Settlement Of Hospital Data Breach Row

    TAMPA, Fla. — A $6.8 million settlement of class claims over a hospital’s 2023 data breach achieved final approval from a Florida judge on Feb. 3, with attorney fees, costs and service awards also getting the thumbs up.

  • February 04, 2025

    Nicaragua Can’t Use Email, WhatsApp To Serve Debtors Owing $1.5M In Attorney Fees

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied a motion by the Republic of Nicaragua for leave to use alternative service to serve respondents abroad against whom it seeks to enforce an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) award worth more than $1.5 million in attorney fees for an oil investment arbitration it won, writing that Nicaragua did not prove that such service was warranted.

  • February 04, 2025

    9th Circuit Upholds Attorney Fees, Costs In 1 Of Several Related Labeling Cases

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed an award of more than $7.9 million in attorney fees and expenses for class counsel in one of several related single-state class lawsuits over the labeling of a glucosamine and chondroitin product, finding that the evidence supported the trial court’s determination that fees were related to the class’s success and the defendant failed to undermine class counsel’s representation that all work performed for the other cases was excluded from its calculations.

  • February 03, 2025

    Judgment Of Over $4M Issued In Coverage Row Involving Murdaugh Housekeeper Estate

    CHARLESTON, S.C. — A South Carolina federal court clerk on Jan. 31 filed a judgment reflecting a judge’s orders awarding $3.75 million in treble damages, $289,616.63 in attorney fees and costs of $7,625.72 to an insurer after a South Carolina jury returned a $1.25 million verdict in favor of the insurer in its suit seeking a declaration that it is entitled to recover the $3.8 million it paid to settle a claim brought by the estate of Alex Murdaugh’s former housekeeper.

  • January 31, 2025

    Judge Grants Final Approval Of $22M Settlement In Block.one EOS Securities Case

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted final approval of a $22 million settlement in a class action accusing a company that promised that it would develop a software program enabling the creation of novel EOS cryptocurrency blockchain technologies of making “a host of materially false and misleading statements to induce investors to purchase EOS Securities” and failing to register its initial coin offering (ICO).

  • January 31, 2025

    Nevada Supreme Court Affirms Attorney Fees Following Car Accident Verdict

    CARSON CITY, Nev. — The Nevada Supreme Court has affirmed attorney fees awarded to a plaintiff injured in a car accident, finding that a trial judge did not improperly rely on prelitigation settlement demands and did not “rubber stamp” the plaintiff’s request before awarding fees.

  • January 31, 2025

    Oklahoma High Court: Prevailing Insureds Don’t Have To Put Loss On Paper

    OKLAHOMA CITY — A unanimous Oklahoma Supreme Court says a trial court erred in ruling that insureds whose home suffered storm damage had to submit a written proof of loss to insurer State Farm to seek attorney fees after winning a $750,000 jury verdict.

  • January 30, 2025

    Federal Judge Approves Catholic University’s $2M Pandemic Closure Settlement

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia issued two orders, one granting final approval of a $2 million class settlement to be paid by The Catholic University of America to end a student’s claims over the school’s closure during the start of the coronavirus pandemic and the second awarding class counsel $666,666.66 in attorney fees and $132,048.14 in costs and the class representative $7,500 for a service award.

  • January 30, 2025

    $47.5M Settlement Between Battery Maker, Shareholders Granted Final Approval

    SAN FRANCISCO — A $47.5 million settlement was granted final approval by a federal judge in California, concluding a case brought by shareholders against the developer of a “solid-state” electronic vehicle battery alleging that the developer violated federal securities laws by misrepresenting the progress and effectiveness of their batteries.

  • January 29, 2025

    Final Approval Of $200M Settlement Granted In Uber IPO Misstatement Class Action

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California issued final approval of a $200 million settlement to end a class action lawsuit bought by investors against ride sharing company Uber Technologies Inc. and certain of its executives that claimed that the company issued a series of misleading statements in the lead-up to its May 2019 initial public offering (IPO).

  • January 29, 2025

    9th Circuit Affirms Prevailing Party Designation In Appeal Of Attorney Fee Award

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal magistrate judge in California used the appropriate methodology to determine the prevailing party in a long-running breach of contract suit but erred in deeming certain claims that were not litigated at trial voluntarily abandoned, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in partly affirming and partly reversing and remanding an order awarding more than $4.35 million in attorney fees to a distributor of furniture protection products.

  • January 29, 2025

    $4.5M Deal Gets Final OK In ERISA Lawsuit Over Proprietary Index Funds

    NEW YORK — A New York federal magistrate judge has granted final approval to a $4.5 million class settlement in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over the selection and retention of proprietary index fund products, awarding $1.5 million of that sum for attorney fees and a total of $45,000 for incentive awards.

  • January 29, 2025

    Federal Judge Approves Alaska Airlines’ $4.75M USERRA Payless Leave Settlement

    SPOKANE, Wash. — A federal judge in Washington granted final approval of a $4.75 million settlement between Alaska Airlines Inc., Horizon Air Industries Inc. and a class of commercial airline pilots who allege that they were denied pay during short-term military leaves; the agreement will result in a gross average of $8,928 per class member plus prospective relief.

  • January 28, 2025

    Settlement With ‘Landmark’ Recovery In Mortality Table Row Wins Final Approval

    CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge on Jan. 27 granted final approval to a class settlement including what retirees said is a “landmark recovery” of $10 million 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; he also approved the separate $4.75 million agreement, of which $4,366,908.05 is for attorney fees, $308,091.95 is for expenses and $75,000 is for service awards.

  • January 28, 2025

    Judge OKs $1.07 Million Settlement Of Pharmacy Service Data Breach Class Action

    BOSTON — A proposed $1,075,000 settlement of class action negligence and breach of fiduciary duty claims over a pharmacy service’s 2021 data breach received final approval from a Massachusetts federal judge, who found that the agreement satisfied the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23.

  • January 27, 2025

    Oil, Gas Royality Settlement Objectors Brief 10th Circuit On Attorney Fee Challenge

    DENVER — A trial court in approving more than $17.3 million in attorney fees as part of a $52 million oil and gas royalty settlement ignored the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s ruling in Strack v. Continental Resources, which requires percentage-based common fund fee awards to be tested by a lodestar cross-check, and failed to follow the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals mandate to apply controlling Oklahoma law, objectors argue in separate appellant briefs filed in the 10th Circuit.

  • January 27, 2025

    Supreme Court Won’t Consider Service Awards, Attorney Fees In Meta Privacy Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An objector to the $90 million settlement of a multidistrict litigation over Meta Platforms Inc.’s purported online tracking of Facebook users saw his petition for certiorari denied Jan. 27, with the U.S. Supreme Court declining to take up his questions over the propriety of plaintiff service awards and attorney fees in the settlement.

  • January 27, 2025

    DISH To High Court: Federal Circuit Got Patent Act Fees Scope Wrong

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a petition for a writ of certiorari before the U.S. Supreme Court, DISH Network L.L.C. maintains its argument that a Delaware federal judge was wrong to find that it cannot recoup the attorney fees it incurred during a proceeding before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that was “voluntary” and “parallel” to the district court proceedings.

  • January 24, 2025

    Sierra Leone Must Face $8.1M Attorney Fees Claim For Unpaid Arbitration Bill

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge denied the Republic of Sierra Leone’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed against it by a law firm that represented it in two international arbitration disputes against a mining company and which says the African nation never paid invoices for approximately $8.1 million in attorney fees.

  • January 23, 2025

    Judge Gives Final OK To $2.2M Settlement Of Data Breach Suit Against Health Care Firm

    ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida federal judge granted final approval to a dual-fund settlement of a class complaint over a health care provider’s 2021 data breach, concluding that the $2.2 million total settlement, as well as an accompanying request for more than $424,000 in attorney fees, is reasonable.

  • January 21, 2025

    9th Circuit Dismisses Inmate’s Appeal Of $725M Facebook Profile-Sharing Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued a mandate, stating that a judgment in which it dismissed as untimely an inmate’s appeal of the $725 million settlement of the consolidated class action over Facebook Inc. (now known as Meta Platforms Inc.) sharing users’ profile data with Cambridge Analytica, was now in effect.

  • January 21, 2025

    Building Owner Appeals Attorney Fee Award In Coverage Suit Over Structural Damage

    PHOENIX — A building owner insured filed a notice in an Arizona federal court indicating that it is appealing the court’s order awarding $198,234 in attorney fees to a commercial property insurer after granting the insurer’s motion for summary judgment in the insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for structural damage to its building.

  • January 21, 2025

    5th Circuit Vacates Attorney Fees In Soccer Business Sale Dispute For Segregation

    NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated attorney fees awarded in a dispute over the sale of a soccer match business and remanded for a trial court to determine whether the fees were properly segregated as the seller of the business is owed fees under Texas law for his successful breach of contract claim only.

  • January 21, 2025

    Idaho Supreme Court Rules On Towing Dispute, Reverses Attorney Fee Reduction

    BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho Supreme Court ruling on a towing dispute between neighbors affirmed summary judgment for the towing company and reversed the reduction of the attorney fee award for that company but reversed summary judgment for the neighbor that requested the tow, opining that factual questions remain.