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

Mealey's Attorney Fees

July 31, 2024
8th Circuit Reverses Attorney Fees Awarded In T-Mobile Data Breach Settlement

ST. LOUIS — A trial court abused its discretion in striking one of two objections to the $78.75 million attorney fees portion of a $350 million data breach class settlement between customers and T-Mobile US Inc., an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, opining that the fees awarded were “unreasonable.”
July 29, 2024
In Contamination Case, California Federal Judge Grants $2.5M In Fees, Costs

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Several months after two environmental groups settled Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) brought against a construction company that allegedly contaminated the area around one of its storage and service facilities with hazardous substances, a California federal judge found that the environmental groups are entitled to more than $2.5 million in attorney fees and costs.
July 26, 2024
Consumer Asks Court To Approve Settlement Removing ‘Natural’ From ChapStick Label

SAN FRANCISCO — A California woman filed a motion in California federal court for approval of a settlement of class claims against GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Holdings (US) LLC (GSK) and Pfizer Inc. for deceptively labeling certain ChapStick products, writing that the defendants have agreed to remove the phrase “100% Natural” from the product’s label and for her attorneys to receive roughly $500,000.
July 26, 2024
Default Judgment For Rapper On Copyright Claims On Hit Single Recommended

NEW YORK — A federal magistrate judge in New York on July 25 recommended the entry of default judgment against the rapper known as Tekashi 6ix9ine in a copyright dispute brought by a hip-hop producer who alleges that the rapper illegally used a recording copyrighted by the producer in a 2018 single that eventually went platinum, after the rapper failed to make any filings in the case for years.
July 26, 2024
Trustee Rejects Claim That Judge-Lawyer Relationship Didn’t Require Disclosure

HOUSTON — In a battle over fees awarded to a law firm in the Honx Inc. asbestos bankruptcy case, the trustee told the court that a relationship between one of the firm’s partners and a bankruptcy judge in the same district at the very least gives the appearance of partiality and the argument that the firm didn’t need to disclose the relationship is “astonishing.”
July 25, 2024
Judge Denies Fees In Copyright, Trade Secret Dispute Between Bronx Music Schools

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge denied a request by a music school and its founder for reimbursement of the attorney fees they incurred in successfully defending allegations of copyright infringement, unfair competition and trade secret misappropriation, overruling objections from the school and its founder that a federal magistrate judge erred in recommending that the motion be denied.
July 25, 2024
9th Circuit: Federal Judge Improperly Analyzed Candy Distributors’ Trademark Fight

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on July 24 partly reversed a California federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in a trademark dispute between two candy distributors, holding that the judge erred in determining that the plaintiff distributor failed to properly notify the defendant distributor that its allegations included the use of the mark “CANDY-GRAM,” leading the judge to improperly analyze the genericness only of the mark “CANDYGRAM” without a hyphen.
July 24, 2024
Federal Judge: No Fees To Hedge Fund After Mixed Verdict In SEC Enforcement

BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts held in a July 23 order that a hedge fund manager and his fund 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, finding that the SEC’s initial position was substantially justified.
July 23, 2024
$19M Class Settlement Gets Final OK In ERISA Row Over Proprietary Funds

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge has granted final approval to a $19 million class settlement resolving claims over the use of proprietary investments in two New York Life Insurance Co. 401(k) plans and the use of a stable value fund as the default investment, also approving a 33% attorney fee and all awards as requested.
July 22, 2024
5th Circuit Rejects Appliance Store’s Bid To Reconsider Fees In Trademark Dispute

NEW ORLEANS — A panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 19 without comment rejected an appliance store’s request to reconsider its finding that it was owed no attorney fees even though the panel held that the store’s trademark on “Appliance Liquidation Outlet” was infringed by a competitor.
July 19, 2024
Judge: AI Defamation Case Jurisdiction Uncertainty Didn’t Warrant Attorney Fees

ATLANTA — A judge who remanded an artificial intelligence defamation case said he did not award attorney fees in the case because diversity jurisdiction appeared clear enough that the plaintiff himself didn’t raise a challenge until alerted to a potential defect by the court.
July 18, 2024
Judge Grants Approval To $50M Settlement To End Antitrust Claims Involving EpiPen

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A Kansas federal judge has signed off on final approval to a settlement agreement in which Pfizer Inc. agreed to pay $50 million to settle claims that it conspired with others in an attempt to delay entry of generic competitors for the EpiPen epinephrine autoinjector (EAI) into the market.
July 17, 2024
9th Circuit Affirms Liability Finding In Cosmetics Counterfeiting Case

SAN FRANCSCIO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on July 16 affirmed a California federal judge’s finding that a man is personally liable for trademark counterfeiting in a case accusing him and a corporation he controlled of selling counterfeited beauty products, finding that there is no basis for the man’s argument that the products were being sold by a legal entity separate from him.
July 17, 2024
$2.5 Million Walmart COVID-19 Screening Settlement Approved

PHOENIX — A federal judge in Arizona granted final approval of a $2.5 million settlement to be paid by Walmart Inc. and Wal-Mart Associates Inc. (together, Walmart) to end a class complaint seeking compensation under Arizona law for time spent undergoing mandatory COVID-19 screening before each shift.
July 17, 2024
Rehearing Granted In GoDaddy TCPA Suit, Class Settlement Opinion Clarified

ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on July 16 granted a petition for panel rehearing filed after a May opinion vacated a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class settlement with GoDaddy.com LLC and issued an opinion substituting its previous opinion with one that was “the same as our previous except that we clarify that the opinion of this Court is delivered solely in Section III.C.iii, in which” the entire panel joined; the class’ rehearing petition sought clarification for “the basis of” the May decision, arguing that the opinion titled “Opinion of the Court” was not actually that.
July 16, 2024
La. High Court: $22M For Attorneys Must Be Reconsidered After Class Damages Cut

NEW ORLEANS — A more than $22 million attorney fee award upheld by a Louisiana trial court and appellate panel due to res judicata after the damages award for a class of landowners suing over water levels was reduced from more than $42 million to $4.6 million must be reconsidered, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled, remanding to the trial court “for a hearing to determine a reasonable attorney fee.”
July 16, 2024
English Panel Affirms Attorney Fees To Nigeria After Set-Aside Of $11B Award

LONDON — An English appellate panel granted an Irish-owned company’s application for permission to appeal an attorney fees award against it worth roughly 43 million British pounds sterling, which it was ordered to pay the Federal Republic of Nigeria for its costs incurred in obtaining the set-aside of an arbitral award worth more than $11 billion, but dismissed the company’s arguments that the fees should have been awarded in Nigerian currency.
July 12, 2024
Amazon’s $7.2M Global Security Screening Pay Settlement Approved

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A federal judge in Kentucky granted final approval of a more than $4.3 million settlement to be paid by Amazon.com Inc. and related parties to end the second of two class complaints accusing the online retailer of failing to pay workers at its Pennsylvania warehouses for time spent undergoing mandatory security screenings; this amount brings the total global settlement to end the two cases to $7,205,837.
July 12, 2024
Chicken Purchasers’ Final Settlement OK’d; Attorney Fees Cut In End Users’ Pact

CHICAGO — In a pair of rulings in an antitrust case accusing broiler sellers of fixing the prices for chicken, a federal judge in Illinois granted final approval to a settlement between direct-purchaser plaintiffs (DPPs) and six prevailing defendants eliminating the DPPs from having to pay litigation costs and approved a reduction of attorney fees for the end-user consumer plaintiffs (EUCPs) after the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated and remanded an earlier award of one-third the settlement or $57.4 million.
July 12, 2024
Judge OKs $2M Class Settlement In ERISA Row But Denies Incentive Award Requests

COLUMBUS, Ga. — Approving a $2 million class settlement in a case involving the investment decisions and administrative costs of a terminated retirement plan, a Georgia federal judge granted attorney fees and expenses as requested but cited Johnson v. NPAS Sols., LLC in denying requests for $5,000 and $10,000 incentive awards.
July 11, 2024
3rd Circuit Reverses Attorney Fees Against Nike In ‘Cool Compression’ Mark Row

PHILADELPHIA — A panel of judges in the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 10 upheld findings that Nike Inc. willfully infringed upon a much smaller clothing brand’s “Cool Compression” trademark but held that a Pennsylvania federal judge assigned too much weight to the “David and Goliath” nature of the case when determining attorney fees.
July 10, 2024
Class Counsel Get 25% Of $1M Settlement In ERISA Record-Keeping Fees Case

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Granting final approval to a $1 million class settlement with Yale-New Haven Hospital Inc. and related entities to resolve allegations of imprudent record-keeping and administrative (RK&A) retirement plan fees, a Connecticut federal judge awarded class counsel $250,000 of that amount for attorney fees and expenses.
July 10, 2024
$5M Class Settlement Wraps ERISA Suit Over Health System Retirement Plans

DETROIT — Granting final approval to a $5 million class settlement in a suit challenging numerous aspects of the management of two Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) retirement plans, a Michigan federal judge awarded a third of that amount as attorney fees and $7,500 to each of the four named plaintiffs as an incentive.
July 09, 2024
Neb. High Court Upholds Waiting Time Penalty, Attorney Fees In Workers’ Comp Case

LINCOLN, Neb. — A Whole Foods Market Inc. employee who was injured when she fell while working was properly awarded attorney fees and a waiting time penalty after the employer refused to pay permanent partial disability (PPD) benefits even though the worker was actually entitled to temporary total disability (TTD) benefits as the employer was aware there “some form of disability as a result of a work accident,” the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled, upholding a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Court.
July 09, 2024
9th Circuit Denies Bids For Attorney Fees, Reassignment On Remand In ERISA Row

SAN FRANCISCO — In a July 8 order without explanation, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel that partly overturned dismissal of an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case over benefit statements denied pension plan participants’ opposed motions to reassign the case on remand and for $179,925 in attorney fees for the appeal.