Archive for the Newsletters Category

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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Colorado Court finds that Efficiencies of Scale Should Reduce Attorney Time

Posted On January 12th, 2017 by Legal Fee Advisors

By Erisa Qyra. A reduction to a fee award in a Federal District Court of Colorado’s case, Shabazz v. Pinnacle Credit Services LLC, demonstrates the Court’s concern with excessive attorney’s fees caused by inefficiencies. The Court found that the Plaintiff’s fee request was excessive due to the fact that the litigation, regarding a routine Fair […] Read More...

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Hourly Rates Reduced and Reductions Made by New York Federal Court for Attorney’s Lack of Billing Judgment

Posted On November 11th, 2016 by Legal Fee Advisors

By Kristen Sisko In a Title VII retaliation dispute, the Western District of New York Court reduced fees submitted on a fee petition finding that the hourly rates sought by counsel were higher than rates typically allowed in the context of this type of litigation; the fees reflected excessive staffing; counsel did not exercise sufficient […] Read More...

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