Mealey's Attorney Fees : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Attorney Fees

November 25, 2024
Judge Approves AFFF Drinking Water Settlements For More Than $1.06 Billion

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A federal judge in South Carolina on Nov. 22 issued two separate opinions granting final approval to two settlements, which combined are worth more than $1.06 billion, to resolve claims by municipalities and water authorities against two manufacturers related to drinking water contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the firefighting agent aqueous film forming foam (AFFF). In a separate-but-related opinion, the judge awarded attorney fees and costs of $95,791,081.51 for class counsel’s work on both settlements.
November 25, 2024
Idaho Appeals Court Affirms Arbitration Award, Grants Appeal Fees, Costs

BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho appeals court has affirmed an arbitration award in a five-building construction dispute and awarded the contractor appeal fees because the property owner was challenging unreviewable arbitration decisions.
November 22, 2024
AI Rental Discrimination Case Receives Judge Approval For $1.75M Settlement

BOSTON — A settlement providing for $1.75 million plus fees and incentives has resolved a class action alleging that an artificial intelligence-based renter scoring program discriminated against those utilizing state and federal housing vouchers and therefore Blacks and Hispanics after a federal judge in Massachusetts granted final approval of the deal.
November 22, 2024
TikTok Not Entitled To Attorney Fees In Digital Media Patent Infringement Suit

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Despite TikTok Inc. being the prevailing party and being granted judgment on the pleadings in a patent infringement suit over video clip storytelling, a California federal magistrate judge found that the case was not exceptional, leading her to deny the social media company’s motion for attorney fees of almost $5 million.
November 22, 2024
Calif. Waste Facility Operator To Pay $762K In Fees In Leachate Discharge Case

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A federal judge in California has ordered the operator of a California recycling and waste facility that allegedly violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) and state law by discharging stormwater-contaminated leachate into a wetland preserve and the Sacramento River to pay more than $762,000 in attorney fees and costs to an environmental nonprofit, stating that the nonprofit is a prevailing party and eligible for reasonable compensation.
November 22, 2024
Nev. High Court Upholds Attorney Fees, Cuts Amount For Defendant In Accident Case

CARSON CITY, Nev. — The defendant in an auto accident case was properly awarded attorney fees and costs after his offer to settle was rejected by the plaintiff and a jury ruled in his favor, but the unexplained $30,000 added in the trial court’s judgment must be reversed, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled.
November 22, 2024
Kentucky Appeals Court Upholds Verdict For Roofing Contractor, Remands For Fees

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky Court of Appeals has denied a couple’s appeal of a $30,000 verdict against them in a roofing dispute and reversed the trial court’s denial of attorney fees and costs for the contractor.
November 21, 2024
Texas Judge OKs Settlement Reimbursing University Data Breach Victims’ Losses

SAN ANTONIO — An agreement in which a university agrees to reimburse ordinary and extraordinary losses that class members suffered due to a 2022 data breach was deemed “fair, reasonable, and adequate” by a Texas judge as she granted final approval to the settlement of negligence and privacy class claims over the incident.
November 20, 2024
Plaintiffs Who Persuaded Jury In Microcaptive Row Lose Attorney Fee Bid

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Saying that the government’s “inability to convince the jury of the merits of its case does not change the substantial justification of its position,” a Florida federal judge on Nov. 19 denied the corporate plaintiffs’ motion for approximately $600,000 in attorney fees and costs in consolidated cases where they successfully challenged penalties imposed because the Internal Revenue Service deemed their involvement with purported microcaptive insurance companies to be promotion of abusive tax shelters.
November 20, 2024
Federal Circuit Vacates Attorney Fees Denial In Failed Vaccine Act Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A special master abused his discretion when he ruled in a National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (Vaccine Act) case that a special master’s decision in Boatmon v. Sec’y of Health & Hum. Servs. regarding a pathologist’s model linking vaccines and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) did not support a finding of reasonable basis, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opined, vacating the denial of an attorney fees request by a father who sued following his son’s death and later voluntarily dismissed his claim when the model was found to be “unreliable.”
November 20, 2024
Final Approval Given To $115 Million Settlement Of Oracle Data Collection Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A $115 million settlement of privacy class claims over data collection and brokerage activities conducted by Oracle America Inc. was found to provide “substantial benefits” to the class by a California federal judge, who granted final approval of the settlement over 28 objections received by class members.
November 18, 2024
Class Settlement, Separate Fee Award Approved In ERISA Statements Penalty Case

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — An Alabama federal judge approved a $253,700 class settlement and a separate award of $265,000 for attorney fees and costs in what the plaintiffs said “appears to be the first ever class-wide settlement for penalties related to a defendant’s failure to provide annual pension benefit statements to participants” under a provision of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
November 18, 2024
Service Awards, Attorney Fees At Issue In Meta Privacy Suit Certiorari Petition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) and a group of Facebook users who sued over the social network’s tracking of their online activity were both given additional time by the U.S. Supreme Court to respond to a petition for certiorari by a class member who objects to awards for attorney fees and class representative service awards that were part of a $90 million settlement of the privacy class action.
November 15, 2024
Correction Of $92M Attorney Fee Sought In Insurers’ ACA Dispute With Government

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Objecting class members and class counsel on Nov. 14 urged the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to correct the $92,424,335.84 judgment awarded to class counsel in a risk-corridor payment dispute under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), with class counsel arguing that the attorney fee owed to it should come from the nondispute subclasses
November 14, 2024
Class, Wawa Ask 3rd Circuit To Affirm Attorney Fees Award In Data Breach Suit

PHILADELPHIA — Wawa Inc. and a group of consumers who sued it over a 2019 data breach filed briefs with the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals defending a $3 million attorney fees award that is part of a $9 million class action settlement agreement, asserting that the award was not the product of collusion and satisfies Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 and asking the court to affirm the award and to reject objections a class member raises on his second appeal of the matter.
November 14, 2024
6th Circuit Upholds ASR Hip MDL Arbitration Award In Decade-Old Dispute

CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s judgment confirming an arbitration award in a long-running contingency fee dispute between an attorney and a former client he represented in a DePuy ASR hip litigation, but in a concurrence, one judge criticized the actions of the attorney, saying his conduct “results in disrespect for the legal profession.”
November 13, 2024
Law Firm’s $8M Global Data Breach Settlement Granted Final Approval

SAN FRANCISCO — An $8 million global class settlement to be paid by a law firm after its network was breached and the personally identifiable information (PII) of more than 630,000 individuals was potentially accessed was granted final approval on Nov. 12 by a federal judge in California.
November 11, 2024
Final OK Given To $5.5M Amazon COVID-19 Screenings Pay Class Settlement

FRESNO, Calif. — A federal magistrate judge in California granted final approval of a $5.5 million settlement between California workers and Amazon.com Services LLC, ending two cases in which the workers allege that they were denied pay for time spent undergoing COVID-19 symptom screenings before their shifts.
November 11, 2024
Magistrate: Sports Store Owed Fees In Copyright Case After Summary Judgment

TAMPA, Fla. — A federal magistrate judge in Florida recommended the award of attorney fees to an online sports memorabilia store after a federal judge granted the store’s motion for summary judgment in its favor on claims brought against it by a photography company that accused it of copyright infringement by selling prints of photos of horse races.
November 11, 2024
Immigrant Separation Class Awarded More Than $6.4M In Attorney Fees, Costs

SAN DIEGO — A federal judge in California awarded a class of immigrants separated from their children who sued the federal government and settled more than $6.4 million for attorney fees and expenses.
November 08, 2024
Wyoming Supreme Court Reduces Attorney Fees Award In Property Sale Dispute

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Determining that a contractual lawsuit between former neighbors over a sale of real estate that never happened “did not involve novel or complex legal issues,” the Wyoming Supreme Court reduced an attorney fees award to the prevailing party by almost $27,000.
November 06, 2024
9th Circuit Restores Full Attorney Fees Award Of Social Security Claimant

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal magistrate judge erred in finding that part of a Social Security claimant’s attorney fees request was categorically excluded under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, in light of the magistrate’s finding that the denial of her benefits request by the Social Security Administration (SSA) was not “substantially justified.”
November 04, 2024
Judge Approves $21M Class Settlement Over Silver Mine’s Alleged Misrepresentations

DENVER — A federal judge in Colorado approved a settlement of $21 million to end class allegations that a silver mine overstated its reserves in several Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
November 04, 2024
Ky. Supreme Court Affirms Attorney Fees Denial In Child Custody Proceeding

FRANKFORT, Ky. — A family court correctly denied a father’s motion for attorney fees in a child support modification dispute with his child’s mother, a Kentucky Supreme Court majority ruled, holding that absent “inappropriate tactics or frivolous filings,” Kentucky law does not generally provide for attorney fees awards in the nonadversarial area of family law.
November 01, 2024
Judge Rejects Online Sports Betting Company’s Request For Fees In Patent Dispute

WILMINGTON, Del. — While a federal judge in Delaware held that a defendant online sports gambling company is the prevailing party in a suit brought against it by a patent owner accusing it of infringement, he said the company is not owed attorney fees or other costs because the case is not “exceptional” as defined under the Patent Act.