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

Mealey's Attorney Fees

August 27, 2024
Federal Circuit: Trial Court Wrongly Analyzed Attorney Fees Motion In Patent Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal district court erred in analyzing whether several telecommunications companies that prevailed against patent infringement claims were entitled to attorney fees because it erroneously gave weight to several “red flags” that supposedly made the case exceptional, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held in vacating the trial court’s order granting the companies’ motion for attorney fees.
August 27, 2024
$725M Profile-Sharing Suit Settlement Is Fair, Facebook And Plaintiffs Tell Court

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook and plaintiffs who successfully reached a $725 million settlement agreement in a consolidated privacy class action over the sharing of Facebook users’ profiles with Cambridge Analytica urged the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reject the appeal of two objectors who argue that the settlement should be higher and the attorney fees greatly reduced.
August 26, 2024
3rd Circuit: No Fees Due In Trade Dress Dispute Over Whiteboards

PHILADELPHIA — A panel of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 23 upheld a Pennsylvania federal judge’s denial of attorney fees to the defendant company in a trade dress dispute between two school material manufacturers, agreeing that the case did not reach the level of exceptionality required by the Lanham Act for attorney fees to be recoverable.
August 23, 2024
Magistrate Judge: Office Depot Owed Some Fees In Copyright, Contract Dispute

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A federal magistrate judge in Florida said that Office Depot Inc. should recover just under $1 million in attorney fees from a software development company that accused the retailer of copyright misappropriation through its use of a database created by the developer after a federal judge previously held that a licensing agreement between the two companies allowed Office Depot’s use of the database.
August 22, 2024
Illinois Federal Judge Declines To Vacate $525M Jury Award In Tech Patent Dispute

CHICAGO — A jury’s award of $525 million for patent infringement claims involving information storage and retrieval patents was supported by sufficient evidence and should not be vacated, an Illinois federal judge found in denying Amazon’s motion for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) and its motion for a new trial.
August 22, 2024
Reinsurer Takes Timely Notice, Other Issues To 5th Circuit In Indemnity Row

NEW ORLEANS — Fighting a $2,866,423.97 judgment that includes attorney fees, a reinsurer told the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the challenged decision “appears to be the first case to vest virtually unfettered discretion with an insured (or ceding company in this case) to decide when to notify its insurer (or reinsurer) of a claim.”
August 21, 2024
8th Circuit Affirms Ruling For Multiemployer Funds In Miller Act Dispute

ST. LOUIS — In an Aug. 20 opinion affirming judgment for multiemployer employee funds, an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in part that the terms of a subcontractor’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) obligate a contractor to pay attorney fees and liquidated damages awarded in the Miller Act dispute.
August 20, 2024
5th Circuit Affirms Attorney Fee Award But Cuts Amount Calculated Without Lodestar

NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the decision to award attorney fees for assertion of “frivolous” claims but reduced the total from $110,261.16 to $98,666.50 because part of the calculation was improper as “[o]ur precedent does not permit the district court to bypass the lodestar in that way.”
August 20, 2024
U.S. High Court: U.S. May Participate In Arguments Over Attorney Fees

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Aug. 19 granted a motion by the United States for leave to participate in and for divided argument in an appeal over preliminary injunctions and attorney fees after a divided Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Virginians were the prevailing parties in a putative class complaint over a now-repealed statute regarding the suspension of driver’s licenses.
August 20, 2024
Hedge Fund Manager Appeals Finding Of No Attorney Fees In SEC Enforcement

BOSTON — A hedge fund manager and his funds have appealed to the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a Massachusetts federal judge’s holding that they are not entitled to attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) after partially prevailing on claims brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission because the SEC’s initial position was substantially justified.
August 20, 2024
5th Circuit Says Neither Party Prevailed In Contract Dispute; Fees, Costs Not Due

NEW ORLEANS — A split panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court ruling awarding $838,137.17 in attorney fees and costs in a contract dispute related to the construction of a hotel, concluding that neither party prevailed. While the majority found that neither party was entitled to fees and costs, the dissenting judge said the lower court correctly determined which party prevailed.
August 19, 2024
Firms Appeal Opioid MDL Attorney Fees Awards To 6th Circuit

CLEVELAND — Two law firms in the opioid multidistrict litigation centralized in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio filed notice of an appeal to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after the judge overseeing the MDL rejected their objections to the final recommendations made by a fee panel to allocate $2.13 billion in attorney fees in connection with various settlements reached by the parties.
August 19, 2024
D.C. Circuit: No Award To Whistleblowing Lawyer Who Tipped Client To SEC

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel of judges in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the Security and Exchange Commission’s decision to deny a whistleblower award to a company’s in-house attorney whose tip led to SEC enforcement action against the company and certain of its executives, with the panel holding in a June opinion that was unsealed Aug. 16 that the attorney’s tip was not made to serve his client’s interests.
August 19, 2024
Delaware High Court Affirms Attorney Fees in $1B Dell Securities Settlement

WILMINGTON, Del. — A unanimous Delaware Supreme Court upheld a vice chancellor’s award of $266.7 million in attorney fees to counsel for the lead plaintiff in a complaint brought by investors alleging that Dell Technologies Inc., certain of its controlling stockholders and directors, and its financial adviser breached their fiduciary duty by engaging in a stock swap that resulted in significant losses to investors, holding that the vice chancellor did not abuse his discretion in setting the award.
August 15, 2024
Magistrate Approves Fees In Data Breach Case Despite Initial, Inflated Calculation

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A federal magistrate judge in New York has granted a plaintiffs’ motion for attorney fees and costs following a $626,985.58 settlement in litigation over a data breach, ruling that although the plaintiffs’ initial calculation was “inflated,” the fees sought were “reasonable” based on other factors including the value of the multiplier applied to a recalculated amount of hours and billing rates, often referred as a “lodestar.”
August 15, 2024
Health Insurers, U.S. Government File Status Report In Dispute Over ACA Payments

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Health insurers and the U.S. government filed a joint status report in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims 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.
August 14, 2024
Bar Association, Other Amici Say Preliminary Injunction Enough For Attorney Fees

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the first of 10 amicus briefs supporting arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court by Virginians seeking attorney fees related to their putative class complaint over a now repealed suspension of driver’s licenses statute, the New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) tells the justices that a merits-based preliminary injunction is enough to establish a “prevailing party” under federal fee-shifting statutes.
August 13, 2024
High Court Told Preliminary Injunction Is Sufficient Relief For Attorney Fees

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A preliminary injunction is “tangible relief” sufficient to determine a prevailing party, Virginians argue in a respondent brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court opposing a petitioner brief by the commissioner of the Viriginia Department of Motor Vehicles, who is challenging a ruling by a divided Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the Virginians were the prevailing parties in a putative class complaint over a now repealed statute regarding the suspension of driver’s licenses.
August 12, 2024
11th Circuit: No Fees In Trademark Dispute Over Use Of Florida’s Outline In Logos

ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Aug. 9 affirmed a Florida federal magistrate judge’s decision to deny attorney fees to a company that prevailed in a trademark infringement case over a restaurant it said infringed its trademarked logo designs, agreeing with the magistrate judge that the case does not reach the “exceptional” level required for attorney fees under the Lanham Act.
August 12, 2024
Reconsideration Of Attorney Fees Denied In Jack In The Box Workers’ Wage Suit

PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal judge in Oregon denied a motion by Jack in the Box Inc. workers to reconsider an April opinion, which partially granted and partially denied motions for attorney fees and costs by both sides in a wage-and-hour suit brought by a class of workers who saw some success with their claims, and apply a prime rate enhancement, opining that there was no showing of clear error or that the “decision was manifestly unjust.”
August 07, 2024
$9.39M White Castle Finger Scan Class Settlement Granted Final Approval

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois granted final approval to a $9,394,440 settlement to be paid by White Castle System Inc. to end a class complaint by an employee who alleged that the fast food company’s finger scan policy violated the Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
August 05, 2024
Nashville, Worker Found By Jury To Have Been Subjected To Bias Agree To Dismissal

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Metropolitan Government of Nashville & Davidson County in Tennessee and a deputy fire marshal found by a federal jury in that state in May to have been subjected to age and gender discrimination and retaliation and $225,000 for gender bias agreed to dismissal with prejudice and termination of all pending motions including the deputy fire marshal’s June motion for $309,950 in attorney fees.
August 05, 2024
Magistrate Rules On Attorney Fee Motions In Subcontractor’s Suit Under Miller Act

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A federal magistrate judge in Florida held that a contractor’s surety is entitled to attorney fees and expenses under a performance bond that was issued by a subcontractor’s surety and under Florida Statutes Section 627.756(1), recommending that the court partly grant the insurer’s motion for attorney fees and costs in the subcontractor’s lawsuit brought under the Miller Act seeking $295,871.34 under a payment bond for its pretermination work at a U.S. naval station.
August 01, 2024
ICSID Awards Panama $1.5M In Fees After Dismissing Biofuel Investor’s Claims

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published a tribunal’s award ordering a biofuel investor to pay the Republic of Panama roughly $1.5 million in attorney fees and arbitration costs after dismissing the investor’s claims for lack of jurisdiction because it failed to prove that it is controlled by Italian investors, noting that the investor “unreasonably delayed” proceedings with “untimely and unjustified requests.”
July 31, 2024
ABA Opinion Expands Guidance On Use Of Artificial Intelligence

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Bar Association set guidelines and standards for the use of generative artificial intelligence, including how to properly handle fees and saying lawyers should be prepared to stay abreast of the technology as it emerges, including its benefits and risks.