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

Mealey's Attorney Fees

October 31, 2024
Judge Grants Final Approval To Nearly $20M Settlement Of Ticket Insurance Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted final approval to a nearly $20 million settlement resolving claims that insurers including Allianz Global Assistance (AGA) violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws in relation to its online marketing of travel and event insurance, with the plaintiffs’ attorneys awarded nearly $5 million in attorney fees.
October 31, 2024
9th Circuit: No Fees For Defendant Who Settled Adult Film Copyright Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with a California federal judge’s decision to deny attorney fees to a John Doe defendant who settled with a prodigiously litigious adult film company that accused Doe of copyright violations, but the panel disagreed as to why Doe was not due fees.
October 30, 2024
Objectors Appeal $17.3M Attorney Fees Award In Settled Oil, Gas Royalty Class Suit

OKLAHOMA CITY — Two objectors 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 filed two separate notices of appeal after a federal judge in Oklahoma granted a renewed motion for $17,333,333 in attorney fees.
October 30, 2024
Credit Unions Seek Final OK Of Wawa Data Breach Suit Settlement, Fees Award

PHILADELPHIA — One year after preliminary approval was given to a settlement between a class of financial institutions (FIs) and Wawa Inc. in a suit over a 2019 data breach experienced by the convenience store chain, the FIs filed a motion in Pennsylvania federal court for final approval of the settlement, which is valued at $28.5 million, as well as a motion for an attorney fees and costs award of $8.5 million.
October 29, 2024
College’s $575,000 Settlement With Students Over Pandemic Refunds Granted Final OK

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Oct. 28 granted final approval of a $575,000 settlement to be paid by Lebanon Valley College (LVC) to end a class complaint by students seeking refunds for tuition and fees after classes switched from in-person to remote in response to the coronavirus pandemic; separately, the judge awarded attorney fees, expenses and a $2,500 class contribution award the same day.
October 29, 2024
Indiana Appeals Panel Reverses Ruling For Employer In Attorney Fees Dispute

INDIANAPOLIS — In an unpublished memorandum decision reversing a state court’s order, an Indiana Court of Appealspanel ruled in part that an employer that participates in the Indiana Assigned Risk Reinsurance Plan didn’t exhaust its administrative remedies because it had not requested appellate attorney fees and prejudgment interest from the plan administrator.
October 25, 2024
4th Circuit Affirms Sanctions, Attorney Fees In Asbestos Referral Fight

RICHMOND, Va. — A federal court properly sanctioned an asbestos law firm for state court lawsuits it filed in an attempt to block litigation between it and another law firm in a fee dispute, and the factors generally used to award prevailing parties attorney fees do not apply in cases where the fees are awarded as a sanction, a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said Oct. 24.
October 24, 2024
Timely Notice, Other Issues Disputed In Reinsurer’s 5th Circuit Appeal

NEW ORLEANS — Contending in its appellee brief that the trial court “followed its obligation to effectuate the parties’ intent,” an insurer urged the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold a $2,866,423.97 judgment against a reinsurer that includes attorney fees.
October 24, 2024
$92M Attorney Fee Award Entered In ACA Row Between Health Insurers And Government

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pursuant to the opinion and order issued by a U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge granting class counsel’s renewed motions for approval of attorney fee requests, the clerk of court entered a judgment of $92,424,335.84 to class counsel in a risk-corridor payment dispute under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) that is related to a similar suit involving insurers in liquidation also seeking compensation under the ACA.
October 23, 2024
In Malpractice Suit, Nevada High Court Modifies Attorney Fee Award

CARSON CITY, Nev. — In consolidated appeals of a malpractice suit over a 2009 surgery mishap, the Nevada Supreme Court largely affirmed rulings in favor of the prevailing plaintiff; however, the court modified an attorney fee award of more than $1.5 million to reflect a lesser fee award against two professional entities, with the court holding that “a vicariously liable professional entity cannot be held more liable than its principal and thus cannot owe more . . . attorney fees than its principal.”
October 21, 2024
California Cities Appeal Denial Of Interim Attorney Fees In Clean Water Act Case

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Two California cities are asking the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to overturn a federal judge’s decision not to reconsider interim attorney fees granted to an environmental organization that sued the cities under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for discharging bacteria pollution from stormwater sewage systems.
October 18, 2024
Judge Finds Jurisdiction Over Nicaragua’s Bid To Enforce $1.5M Fee Award

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied a motion filed by trustees of a family trust to dismiss a petition filed against them by the Republic of Nicaragua seeking to enforce an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) award for more than $1.5 million in attorney fees with compound interest, which it won in 2023 after prevailing in an oil investment arbitration brought by the trust and its co-claimants.
October 18, 2024
Magistrate: Video Game Creator Due More Than $35K In Awards In Copyright Case

NEW YORK — A federal magistrate judge in New York recommended that the creator of popular horror video game franchise be awarded more than $35,000 in statutory damages, attorney fees and costs from a defendant Chinese company that the creator said infringed his copyrights by selling unauthorized clothing items featuring characters he designed, due to the company’s failure to appear and defend itself from the complaint.
October 17, 2024
Illinois High Court Upholds Attorney Fee Award For Work On Liquidating Estates

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed that two attorneys and their law firms are entitled to a quantum meruit recovery of more than $1.6 million in fees and expenses for the work they did in litigation to liquidate and divide assets of two estates before terminating their services, finding that the trial court properly used the contingency fee arrangement in the parties’ attorney-client contract to determine the amount of fees owed.
October 16, 2024
Panel Affirms Fee Award For Planned Parenthood In Undercover Investigation Row

SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that a lower court’s award of $13,781,010.42 in attorney fees and costs to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc. “was not unreasonably disproportionate” in its case against anti-abortion activists that conducted an undercover investigative reporting operation related to claims that Planned Parenthood regularly harvested fetal organ tissue.
October 16, 2024
Nevada High Court Affirms Retroactive Application Of Higher Attorney Fee Cap

CARSON CITY, Nev. — A trial court did not err in awarding the prevailing plaintiffs in a personal injury case the maximum attorney fee award under revised rules that went into effect after the defendants filed their request for a new trial because the amendment to the rules was a procedural change governing the remedy and did not affect the parties’ substantive rights, a Nevada Supreme Court panel ruled.
October 16, 2024
Parties Brief Dispute Over Which Legal Fees Fall Under Reinsurance Contract

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — An Alabama federal judge has ordered an insurer to respond to a reinsurer’s objections to parts of declarations it submitted in summary judgment briefing concerning disputed legal fees.
October 15, 2024
U.S. High Court Won’t Review EAJA Fee Denial In ESOP Challenge

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As urged by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 15 declined to review denial of an Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) request for attorney fees and nontaxable costs in an unsuccessful challenge to an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deal.
October 15, 2024
New York Times’ Auto Renewal Class Settlement Granted Final Approval

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted final approval of a $2,375,000 nonreversionary cash settlement to be paid by The New York Times Co. to end a class complaint accusing the newspaper publisher of engaging in an illegal “automatic renewal” scheme on its website and mobile application for The New York Times newspaper, approved the award of attorney fees, costs and expenses of $791,666.66 and approved a class representative incentive award of $5,000; the approval followed additional settlement negotiations after the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed final approval of a settlement that included $1.65 million in cash plus “coupons.”
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.