Author Archive

Blending of Claims and Vague Billing: South Dakota Court Cuts Fee Award by 45%

Posted On October 12th, 2017 by Legal Fee Advisors

By Jillians Robbins. The victorious Plaintiff in a breach of contract and breach of warranty case against a piping company requested $352,283.14 in attorney’s fees and costs. The District of South Dakota found that because some of the firm’s invoices were too vague, and that the firm failed to segregate time for the state law […] Read More...

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Contemporaneous time records and a deceased attorney – a WDNY legal fee conundrum

Posted On September 21st, 2017 by Legal Fee Advisors

By Jillian Robbins and Emily Wilson. The employee-plaintiffs, in a successful ERISA violation claim against their defendant-employer, sought over $7.6 million in attorney’s fees in December 2016. The Western District of New York rejected Defendants’ argument that Plaintiffs were not entitled to any fees at all, but nonetheless reduced the amount of fees sought in […] Read More...

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Southern District of N.Y Applies a 70% Reduction to a Fee Request submitted at $4.3 million

Posted On August 31st, 2017 by Legal Fee Advisors

By Emily Wilson, contributions by Jillian Robbins and Erisa Qyra. A significant reduction to a fee award in a Southern District of New York case, Schoolcraft v. City of New York, demonstrates the importance of efficient billing practices.  The case was brought by a police officer against the City in regards to alleged violations of […] Read More...

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Court Carves 45% off Fee Request for Billing for Unrelated Tasks and Undescriptive Time Entries

Posted On August 10th, 2017 by Legal Fee Advisors

By Jillian Robbins. The Northern District of Texas granted a Plaintiff’s motion for sanctions in the form of reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses as a result of discovery misconduct on the part of Defendants in March 2015. Shortly thereafter, the Plaintiff sought a motion to award such fees and expenses, seeking a total of $447,154.21. […] Read More...

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Law Firm Voluntarily Reduces Fees by 8%, Texas Court Takes an Extra 45% Reduction

Posted On July 13th, 2017 by Legal Fee Advisors

By Jillian Robbins. Plaintiff production company sued Defendant Yahoo for breach of an agreement relating to a promotional event for the 2014 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. When Defendant prevailed on its summary judgment motion, but lost on various counterclaims, it sought $2,418,687.40 in attorneys’ fees and costs. In making the application for fees and costs, […] Read More...

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Confronted with Excessive Hours and Overstaffing, Massachusetts Court Slashes Fee Request by $1.2million

Posted On May 24th, 2017 by Legal Fee Advisors

By Jillian Robbins. The victorious Plaintiffs in an unpaid wages case and bankruptcy proceeding sought attorneys’ fees of $2,245,932.61 for the legal aid society and a large law firm that worked on their case. However, a Massachusetts Superior Court closely scrutinized the number of hours the attorneys worked, and found them to be wholly unreasonable, […] Read More...

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New York Court reluctant to deviate from the lodestar method

Posted On May 4th, 2017 by Legal Fee Advisors

By Sarah Chin. In the Eastern District Court of New York, a group of plaintiffs filed a motion for attorney fees of $829,885.00 in a wage discrimination action under the Equal Pay Act, the New York Equal Pay Act and Nassau County Government Act. Plaintiffs acknowledged that although the requested fees could be $214,208.35 if […] Read More...

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New York Attorneys’ Fees Cut in Half Due to Too Many Attorneys and Excessive Hours

Posted On April 13th, 2017 by Legal Fee Advisors

By Jillian Robbins. The victorious Plaintiff in an excessive force and due process claim requested a total of $976,958.70 in attorneys’ fees and costs. In February, 2017 the Eastern District of New York substantially denied the application, and cut the request in half, awarding only $426,571.45 against the Defendants, citing excessive staffing and hours by […] Read More...

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New York Court gives Benihana’s fees a chop

Posted On February 23rd, 2017 by Legal Fee Advisors

By Emily Wilson. Benihana, the cult Hibachi chain frequented by New Yorkers and others across the country, was embroiled in a licensing dispute in the Southern District Court of New York with the similarly named Benihana Tokyo (“BOT”), whereby Benihana sought an injunction to enforce the terms of a license agreement against BOT. With Benihana […] Read More...

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A 30% reduction in fees warranted by the New York Federal District Court, slashing fees for legal research and multi-teaming

Posted On February 2nd, 2017 by Legal Fee Advisors

By Sarah Chin. In a case involving the Americans with Disabilities Act and the New York State Human Rights Law, the plaintiff brought an action against Rite Aid for, amongst other things, discharging him from his job as a pharmacist on account of his phobia of needles. With the plaintiff succeeding, the Northern District Court […] Read More...

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