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

Mealey's Attorney Fees

March 03, 2025
$8.35M Global Deal Proposed In ERISA Case Over Alleged Cost-Shifting

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — After nearly a decade of litigation, an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over an alleged cost-shifting scheme concerning health plan administrative fees for chiropractic and physical therapy treatment would be resolved in a deal that includes gross amounts of $4.8 million for members of individual and plan classes and a separate $3.55 million for attorney fees and costs under a proposal that the named plaintiff asked a North Carolina federal court to grant preliminary approval.
February 28, 2025
9th Circuit Reverses, Remands $800,000 Fee Award For $950,000 Class Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has reversed a trial court’s approval of $800,000 in attorney fees and costs for a claims-made data breach class settlement that had a redemption value of “at most” about $950,000, but a panel majority approved the underlying settlement with a dissenting judge calling the trial court’s approval “perfunctory.”
February 28, 2025
Class Representative In Oil, Gas Royalty Settlement Opposes Attorney Fee Challenge

DENVER — Parties objecting to the more than $17.3 million in attorney fees awarded as part of a $52 million oil and gas royalty settlement have failed to show that final approval was granted in error, the class representative, Chieftain Royalty Co., argues in an appellee brief filed in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
February 26, 2025
Attorneys Get A Third Of $7.1M Settlement Of Class Action Over ESOP Deal

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — An Illinois federal judge on Feb. 25 granted final approval to a $7.1 million class settlement resolving a suit over 2012 and 2013 employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) deals, awarding the requested 33% attorney fees that total $2,366,666.67 in the case where the plaintiffs said the lodestar based on their counsel’s “reasonable hourly rate” was more than $6.8 million.
February 26, 2025
Federal Judge: Musician Owes More Than $286K In Fees In Rap Copyright Battle

NEW YORK — A musician who sued rapper Donald Glover, who performs as Childish Gambino, and multiple related entities for allegedly copying one of his songs in the 2018 hit “This Is America” owes more than $286,000 in attorney fees, a federal judge in New York ruled.
February 26, 2025
4th Circuit Approves Attorney Fees After Not Reviewing Black Lung Benefits Case

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals approved an award of $6,200 in attorney fees to a former employee of a coal mine operator for whom an administrative law judge (ALJ) issued an order requiring the operator to pay black lung benefits to him.
February 25, 2025
Split U.S. High Court: No Attorney Fees For Preliminary Injunctive Relief

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Parties who won preliminary injunctive relief before a case was mooted due to a change in the law are not “‘prevailing part[ies]’” eligible for attorney fees under 42 U.S. Code Section 1988(b) as they have not been “grant[ed] enduring relief on the merits that alters the legal relationship between the parties,” a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled Feb. 25 in a putative class case over a now-repealed Virginia statute regarding automatic suspension of driver’s licenses for failure to pay certain court fines and fees.
February 24, 2025
Supreme Court Won’t Hear DISH’s Patent Dispute Attorney Fees Arguments

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 24 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari from DISH Network LLC, leaving in place a decision from the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to deny the company’s bid for attorney fees in a patent dispute that spanned a federal court and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
February 24, 2025
Default Judgment Entered Against Employer In Suit Over COBRA Notice

SAN DIEGO — Ruling in part that “failure to provide proper COBRA [Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act] notice and its misrepresentations to Plaintiff [was] the actual and proximate cause of Plaintiff’s injuries,” a California federal judge entered default judgment against an employer on negligence and negligent misrepresentation claims, awarding the plaintiff nearly $500,000 in compensatory damages plus interest and costs but denying attorney fees.
February 21, 2025
9th Circuit Affirms Attorney Fees For Employees Sued In Trade Secret Misuse Case

SAN FRANCISCO — After affirming a summary judgment order more than three years earlier, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed an Arizona federal judge’s order granting attorney fees to former employees of a financial retirement company who were sued for alleged misappropriation of trade secrets and confidential information, finding that the claims arose out of a contract between the employees and the company.
February 21, 2025
2nd Circuit Issues Mixed Ruling, Again Remands ERISA Deferred Compensation Row

NEW YORK — Cross-appeals in a long-running Employee Retirement Income Security Act deferred compensation dispute resulted in a mixed ruling that a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued as a summary order, remanding for further proceedings.
February 21, 2025
Texas Appeals Court Affirms Construction Defect Award, Remands Appeal Fees

HOUSTON — A Texas state appeals court has affirmed most of a $492,363 jury award in a defective house case against developer K. Hovanian but reversed the award of appellate expert fees and unconditional appellate attorney fees for redetermination.
February 20, 2025
Fund Manager Argues 1st Circuit Should Reverse Denial Of Fees In SEC Enforcement

BOSTON — A hedge fund manager and his company argue in an appellant reply brief that the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should reverse a Massachusetts federal judge’s finding 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 sanctions the SEC demanded were excessive.
February 20, 2025
Company Liable For Counterfeiting To High Court: Attorney Fees Unreasonable

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A distribution company and the man who controls it argue to the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for a writ of certiorari that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to uphold the entry of attorney fees against them in a trademark infringement suit; the petitioners were found liable for selling counterfeited beauty products.
February 14, 2025
9th Circuit Rejects Appeal Of $725 Million Facebook Data-Sharing Suit Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — More than a year after a trial court approved the $725 million settlement of a consolidated class action over the 2015 sharing of Facebook users’ profiles with Cambridge Analytica, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 13 affirmed the approval over an appeal of the settlement and attorney fees amounts by two class members.
February 13, 2025
Amici To High Court: DISH Entitled To Attorney Fees In Patent Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An advocacy group for patent holders tells the U.S. Supreme Court in an amicus curiae brief that DISH Network LLC was entitled to attorney fees it incurred in a trial in front of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board while also litigating related claims in a Delaware federal court; the group echoes the company’s argument that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals created a circuit split in affirming the denial of fees.
February 13, 2025
Triable Issues Exist As To Whether Insurer Paid Attorney Fees As Part Of Settlement

LOS ANGELES — A California appeals panel held that there are triable issues regarding whether a plaintiff insurer paid any of tenants’ attorney fees as part of the settlement of an underlying lawsuit alleging substandard conditions at the insured’s 28-unit apartment building, reversing the lower court’s judgment as to the summary adjudication of the plaintiff insurer’s claims for declaratory relief and reimbursement of alleged attorney fees that it paid in the underlying settlement, vacating the award and affirming the judgment in all other respects.
February 12, 2025
Fortra Data Breach MDL Judge OK’s 1 Settlement, Stays Case For Global Settlement

MIAMI — The Florida federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation over a 2023 software app data breach granted final approval to the settlement of one of the MDL’s tracks on Feb. 11, while staying proceedings for the remaining parties while details of an announced global settlement are finalized.
February 12, 2025
Federal Judge Grants Final Approval To Settlement In Six Flags Stock-Drop Suit

FORT WORTH, Texas — A federal judge in Texas granted final approval of a $40 million settlement in a case brought against Six Flags Entertainment Corp. and two of its former senior executives by stockholders who alleged that Six Flags violated federal securities law by issuing alleged misrepresentations regarding the company’s theme park expansion in China.
February 12, 2025
Final Attorney Fees Award Granted In Decade-Old Defective Flooring Class Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — More than four years after a class action settlement over defective bamboo flooring sold by Lumber Liquidators Inc. received final approval, a California federal judge granted a motion by class counsel for a final attorney fees award of $863,919.82, representing 25% of the value of store vouchers redeemed by class members in the last two years.
February 12, 2025
Panel Reverses Attorney Fees Award In Octogenarian’s Bad Faith Suit Over Hail Damage

FORT WORTH, Texas — A Texas appeals panel reversed and remanded a trial court’s award of appellate attorney fees in favor of an octogenarian insured in her bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for her roof damage caused by hail and wind and affirmed the remainder of the lower court’s judgment, finding that the evidence was sufficiently strong to support the jury's conclusion that the insurer knowingly took advantage of the insured’s “‘lack of knowledge, ability, experience, or capacity . . . to a grossly unfair degree.’”
February 11, 2025
Enforcement Of Settlement, Attorney Fees In GoDaddy TCPA Class Case Denied

MOBILE, Ala. — A federal judge in Alabama denied a motion to enforce a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class settlement with GoDaddy.com LLC, writing that the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a July 2024 opinion vacated the District Court’s settlement approval as well as its ruling on attorney fees, clearing the way for the web hosting company to terminate the agreement.
February 10, 2025
Florida Panel Upholds Ruling Denying Attorney Fees In Auto Claim Coverage Dispute

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Without providing explanation, a Florida appellate court affirmed a lower court’s ruling denying an insured’s motion for attorney fees in an auto insurance coverage dispute where the lower court found that the insured was not entitled to attorney fees because the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) “did not affirmatively deny the claim.”
February 10, 2025
Wisconsin High Court Deems Attorney Fees Appeal Untimely In Divorce Proceedings

MADISON, Wis. — Per Wisconsin case law, a Wisconsin Supreme Court majority found that a trial court’s spousal support order constituted a final ruling in a divorce-related lawsuit, despite a subsequent attorney fees ruling, making an ex-husband’s appeal of the fees judgment untimely.
February 05, 2025
6th Circuit: Kentucky Colonel Trademark Contempt Appeal Can Continue

CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 4 denied a motion from the organization that holds trademarks related to the honorary title of “Kentucky Colonel” to dismiss an appeal brought by a pro se appellant held in contempt by a Kentucky federal judge for failing to comply with a permanent injunction barring him from using the mark, but the panel told the appellant that he would be afforded no more extensions of time to file his opening brief.