In a March 2014 decision of an insurance coverage dispute, the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon awarded attorney fees in the amount of $1,029,511.76. This constitutes a 46.5% reduction from the $1,924,107.06 amount originally requested by the Plaintiff. The Court set forth a variety of different reasons for the reduction including, inter […] Read More...
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In January 2014 decision, in the case of Beauford v ActionLink, LLC, 2014 WL 183904 [ED Ark Jan. 15, 2014], the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Western Division, awarded plaintiffs’ attorneys fees in the amount of $193,473.50. In determining reasonable fees to be awarded, the court conducted a detailed analysis […] Read More...
Over the past decades, with the rise of the tech industry and entrepreneurship, so have risen the trolls from under their bridges. It is now time to set things right. In order to protect intellectual property, Congress enacted laws which gives inventors and assignees exclusivity rights for a limited amount of time and scope. The […] Read More...
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The City of Detroit, Michigan filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy on July 18, 2013. It is by all accounts the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in U.S. history with an estimated debt of $18.5 billion. According to Reuters, Detroit has paid almost $23 million in fees to lawyers, consultants and financial advisers through October 1, including […] Read More...
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An Above the Law blog dated March 25, 2014 referenced an American Lawyer article about a new survey focused on billing data that indicates that legal fees are on the rise, even though fewer attorney hours are being purchased.[1] The survey data, produced by Tymetrics, the billing software company, through its “LegalView Legal Market Index”, […] Read More...
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In a decision issued late February, a California district court reduced an attorneys’ fee award by 3.2 million dollars upon finding that a “grossly excessive” number of hours were billed by the two law firms throughout the 31 month class action litigation.[1] The case Henderson v. J.M. Smucker Co. was originally brought by the plaintiff […] Read More...
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In an April 2013 decision, in the case of Bravia Capital Partners, Inc. v Fike, 296 FRD 136 [SDNY 2013], the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York took a swipe at the fee request and awarded attorneys’ fees in the amount of $12,526.50, excluding all fees that were vaguely described or […] Read More...
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An Above the Law Blog dated February 17, 2014 by Mark Herrmann entitled, The 5 Deadly Sins of Outside Counsel, gives an interesting perspective of a former outside counsel turned in house on the lawyer approval process. Herrmann discusses what he feels are the critical mistakes lawyers make that could result in achieving “unapproved” status. […] Read More...
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A first quarterly report issued in early February by court appointed fee examiner Robert Fishman shows that Fishman raised concerns early on in the case about numerous bills submitted by law firms in Detroit’s bankruptcy suit.[1] Although Chapter 9 municipal cases do not require disclosure of legal fees (unlike Chapter 11), the Judge overseeing the […] Read More...
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In a recent decision, the United States District Judge for the District of Colorado, William J. Martinez, awarded $53,391.76 in attorney fees, following more than 75% reduction of the fees sought (Strachan v Pandaw Cruises India Pvt. Ltd., No. 10-CV-02593-WJM-KLM, 2013 WL 5651399 [D Colo Oct. 15, 2013]). This case started as a copyright action […] Read More...
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