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

Mealey's Attorney Fees

March 20, 2025
Wyoming High Court Affirms Dismissal For Failure To Pay Attorney Fee Sanction

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A trial court did not abuse its discretion or violate a personal injury plaintiff’s rights under the Wyoming Constitution by ordering her to pay defense attorney fees and costs as a sanction for violating a motion in limine or in dismissing her case with prejudice when she failed to pay the sanction as ordered, the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled.
March 20, 2025
Idaho Supreme Court Sanctions Attorney Who Brought Legal Malpractice Case

BOISE, Idaho — The attorney representing an Idaho couple who sued their former counsel for legal malpractice must pay the former counsel’s attorney fees on appeal pursuant to Idaho Appellate Rule 11.2’s frivolous filing clause and improper purpose clause, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled.
March 19, 2025
Abuse Of Discretion Claim ‘Without Merit,’ 2nd Circuit Rules In Attorney Fee Spat

NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a district court’s decision to award approximately $850,000 for attorney fees and costs to a New York man who was partially successful in a 2014 civil rights trial in which he alleged false arrest, malicious prosecution and denial of medical treatment, finding the abuse of discretion arguments made by a Nassau County, N.Y., police officer to be “without merit.”
March 19, 2025
9th Circuit Denies Petition In Attorney Fee Challenge After Voluntary Dismissal

PASADENA, Calif. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied a petition for writ of mandamus filed by consumers who argued that their voluntary dismissal of their class complaint alleging underfill of lower calorie ice cream could not be hinged on their payment of attorney fees to the defendants or limits on refiling.
March 13, 2025
Federal Judge Tosses Trademark Claims Between Activists, Rejects Recusal

DALLAS — A federal judge in Texas dismissed with prejudice trademark claims and counterclaims in a dispute between two similarly named entities focused on the advancement of African Americans in the technology profession and denied a former litigant’s request for sanctions against one of the parties’ attorneys and recusal of the judge; the former litigant filed an immediate notice of appeal to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
March 13, 2025
Facebook Swimsuit-Photo App Loses Appeal Of Anti-SLAPP And Attorney Fees Rulings

SAN FRANCISCO — A California appellate panel on March 12 affirmed an order striking claims against Facebook Inc., CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other employees for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by restricting the developer of an app that searched Facebook for photos of people wearing swimsuits from accessing user data and affirmed a roughly $683,000 attorney fee award against the developer.
March 13, 2025
GoDaddy’s Deadline Extended For Response To Motion To Appeal Settlement Ruling

MOBILE, Ala. — A federal judge in Alabama on March 12 set April 3 deadlines for a response from GoDaddy.com LLC to a motion by class representatives to certify for appeal a February order declining enforcement of a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class settlement and for a response from class representatives to GoDaddy’s motion to dismiss claims by a deceased class representative; that order was filed one day after the judge declined to reconsider the February decision and directed GoDaddy to respond to the motion to certify the order for appeal.
March 11, 2025
Supreme Court Rejects Another Copyright Attorney Fee Petition Involving Photos

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 10 rejected a real estate company’s request to consider whether the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly upheld a rejection of its request for attorney fees in a copyright infringement case brought against it, and then voluntarily dismissed, by a plaintiff photography company; it’s one of multiple recent denials of certiorari petitions in copyright cases involving the photography company.
March 11, 2025
Supreme Court: No Rehearing In Copyright Attorney Fee Fight

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 10 denied a copyright defendant’s petition for rehearing, again leaving in place a finding from the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that he was not the “prevailing party” under federal copyright law in the face of the copyright owner’s voluntary dismissal of the case.
March 10, 2025
Judge Enters $2.8M Judgment In Japan Energy Row After Debtor Withdraws Opposition

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge confirmed an arbitral award and entered judgment worth more than $2.8 million against a Japanese energy company for failure to return collateral to a U.S. company after the Japanese company terminated its counsel and withdrew opposition to the petition, and also granted in part the petitioner’s application for attorney fees but awarded roughly $78,000 less than the petitioner sought after finding its hourly rates “unreasonably high.”
March 07, 2025
Disabled Child’s Parents’ Appeal Of Rulings, Fees Rejected By 3rd Circuit

PHILADELPHIA — Parents who took the fight for their disabled daughter’s educational rights to a New Jersey court failed in their appeal of summary judgment, dismissal and attorney fees rulings, with a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel finding their arguments and appeals untimely and forfeited.
March 07, 2025
Judge: Insurer Timely Filed Motion For Attorney Fees In Hurricane Sally Suit

PENSACOLA, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida granted a commercial property insurer’s motion for attorney fees after granting its motion for summary judgment in a coverage dispute arising from Hurricane Sally property damage, rejecting the insured’s argument that the motion for attorney fees was untimely.
March 07, 2025
Idaho Supreme Court: Neither Parent Due Appeal Fees In Child Support Case

BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho Supreme Court said neither parent in a child support case is entitled to attorney fees on appeal but said the father is due appellate costs under state court rules.
March 07, 2025
Final Judgment Entered For $27.5 Million Thomson Reuters Data-Selling Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — One week after a California federal judge granted final approval to a $27.5 million settlement of a class action over Thomson Reuters Corp.’s online gathering and sale of personally identifying information (PII) of Californians, he issued final judgment in the four-year-old suit, dismissing unjust enrichment and unfair competition claims against the company.
March 07, 2025
5th Circuit Affirms Refusal To Impose Statutory ERISA Penalty In Plan Documents Row

NEW ORLEANS — In an unpublished March 6 per curiam opinion saying in part that the appellant didn’t “establish that the district court abused its discretion in” determinations made following a bench trial, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed discovery and other rulings for the sponsor and administrator of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act medical benefits plan in a documents dispute.
March 07, 2025
Disability Claimant Awarded $241K In Attorney Fees Based On Success On Appeal

PITTSBURGH — A disability claimant is entitled to attorney fees of $241,746 and costs of $8,277, a Pennsylvania federal judge said after determining that the claimant achieved success on the merits of his claim based on the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision to vacate a summary judgment ruling in favor of the disability plan.
March 07, 2025
Nevada Supreme Court Tosses $200,000 Quantum Meruit Fee, Lowers To $33,811

CARSON CITY, Nev. — After twice vacating a $200,000 quantum meruit fee for a law firm discharged by its client, the Nevada Supreme Court used the parties’ arguments and concluded that the law firm should receive only $38,811.
March 07, 2025
Final Approval Of $9.8M Settlement Granted In Apparel Company Stock Drop Suit

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted final approval to a settlement of a class action brought by investors against executives of apparel company Sequential Brands Group Inc. and the company’s auditing company, with the company executives agreeing to pay $6.25 million and the auditing company agreeing to pay $3.5 million. The investors alleged the defendants made false and misleading statements regarding the company’s financial well-being, which the investors alleged caused the company’s stock price to drop.
March 06, 2025
Final Approval Of Settlement Granted In Case Against Seller Of BPDN Investments

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted final approval to a $6.2 million settlement between a company that sells borrower payment dependent notes (BPDN) investments and the investors who sued it for allegedly intentionally and negligently misleading investors about those investments, causing the investors to suffer significant losses.
March 05, 2025
11th Circuit Transfers GEICO Attorney Fee Motion To District Court In Fraud Suit

ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a motion filed by GEICO to transfer its motion for appellate attorney fees to a district court that entered a $690,251.44 judgment for the insurer in its suit against a health care clinic and related parties for allegedly submitting fraudulent no-fault insurance charges.
March 05, 2025
$9.5 Million Settlement Of Payroll Firm Data Breach Suit Gets Final Approval

LOS ANGELES — Six months after a $9.5 million settlement of privacy and unfair competition claims over a payroll services provider’s 2023 data breach was preliminarily approved, a California judge gave the final stamp of approval to the agreement, also granting the plaintiffs’ motion for attorney fees, costs and class representative service awards.
March 04, 2025
8th Circuit Affirms Rulings For Former Exec In ERISA ‘Top Hat’ Plan Case

ST. LOUIS — Saying that “[c]ontracts may refer to something that is non-existent without posing an interpretive problem,” an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a judgment ordering payment of nearly $5 million in deferred compensation benefits and $19,177.50 in attorney fees plus interest in a dispute over a “top hat” plan.
March 04, 2025
Home Health Company Seeks Attorney Fees For Grappling With Fake AI Cites

ORLANDO, Fla. — A defendant home health services provider asks a federal judge in Florida for attorney fees and other sanctions after pro se plaintiffs filed a brief opposing a motion to dismiss that allegedly contained fake case citations and that “appears on its face to have been generated by an artificial intelligence (AI).”
March 03, 2025
$21 Million Settlement Of Suit Over Brokerage Firm’s Data Breach Gets Final OK

CHICAGO — The same day that she presided over a fairness hearing for a proposed $21 million settlement of negligence, contractual and statutory claims over a 2020 data breach experienced by Arthur J. Gallagher Co. (AJG), an Illinois federal judge granted final approval to it, dismissing the case with prejudice.
March 03, 2025
Multiemployer Funds Tell U.S. High Court No Circuit Splits Exist In Fee Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the Feb. 28 brief arguing that “there are no circuit splits on the applicable law, and . . . the lower court properly applied settled law,” multiemployer funds urge the U.S. Supreme Court to deny review of an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that affirmed judgment for them concerning attorney fees and timeliness in a Miller Act case.