By Zachary Kalmbach. To account for block billing and several other billing inefficiencies, an SDNY court reduced a million-dollar fee request by over 40%. In a breach-of-contract case between Benihana, Inc. (“BI”) and Benihana of Tokyo, LLC (“BOT”), a panel of arbitrators found that BI’s termination of BOT’s license had not been justified. Ten months […] Read More...
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Comments Off on Timekeepers Beware: Block Billing, Other Errors Costs Firm Over $400k in Legal Fees
By Zachary Kalmbach. Finding that a massive fee request was vastly disproportionate to a settlement, a Minnesota court slashed plaintiffs request by over 80%. In an FLSA case, plaintiffs attempted to certify a nationwide class, but the court limited the class to employees from only two restaurants. With the parties settling for $62,000, plaintiffs requested […] Read More...
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Comments Off on Chipotle Dodges Millions in Legal Fees After Settling Employment Class Action
By Zachary Kalmbach. In May 2016, a man (“plaintiff”) publicly live-streamed on Facebook a 45-minute video of his partner giving birth to their child. Various news outlets (“defendants”) reported on the video and used very brief excerpts of the video in their news reports. Plaintiff sued defendants, alleging violations of the Copyright Act. The Southern […] Read More...
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Comments Off on New York Court Rejects “Limited Financial Means” Argument, Refuses to Reduce Fee Award in Facebook Live-Streaming Case
By Zachary Kalmbach. A Pennsylvania judge threw out an entire fee petition after a line-by-line review convinced him that the petition was “outrageously excessive.” Plaintiff brought an action to recover benefits under his automobile insurance policy, and included a bad faith claim. The first claim settled, and a jury entered a verdict for plaintiff on […] Read More...
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Comments Off on Pennsylvania Court Tosses “Absolutely Opprobrious” Fee Request
By Zachary Kalmbach. A 2017 California fee dispute demonstrates gross instances of inadequate billing practices. The civil rights action began in 2007 and originally involved 12 claims against 16 defendants. In March 2017, a jury found one police officer liable for excessive force, awarding damages in the amount of $350,000, and plaintiff subsequently moved for […] Read More...
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Comments Off on California Court “Troubled” by Blatant Block Billing and “Exceptionally Vague” Entries, Slashes Fees by 68%
By Zachary Kalmbach. An Ohio court substantially reduced a fee request to account for a plethora of billing improprieties and billing for time spent “taking the Court and defense counsel in circles.” Plaintiffs’ alleged several employment claims against defendants, several of which were dismissed and the rest settled. Plaintiffs requested $1,026,316.10 in fees and $102,325.72 […] Read More...
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Comments Off on Abundance of Billing Errors Lead Ohio Court to Slash Fees by Nearly 60%
By Zachary Kalmbach. A firm’s pattern of repeating billing entries word-for-word, in addition to a number of other improper billing practices, led to a 33% reduction in attorneys’ fees in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The Tetlocks’ filed a petition under the Vaccine Act as the administrators of the estate of Jennifer Tetlock, alleging […] Read More...
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Comments Off on Copy and Pasting Billing Entries Won’t Fly in Federal Battles for Legal Fees
By Zachary Kalmbach. A North Carolina federal judge slashed a fee request by 45% because of a number of billing errors and plaintiffs’ limited success. After partially succeeding in a gerrymandering challenge, plaintiffs requested $681,373.95 in fees, $14,960.24 in litigation expenses, $32,813.42 in expert fees, and $9,057.68 in taxable costs. The court reduced fees by […] Read More...
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Comments Off on After Gerrymandering Challenge Win, Plaintiffs Lose Out On 45% of Attorneys’ Fees
By Zachary Kalmbach. The 7th Circuit affirmed a lower court’s decision to cut a fee request by over 70%, and in so doing held that lower courts can consult a lawyer’s history of poor performance and excessive billing when determining fee awards. A police officer won a $30,000 verdict in a workplace discrimination suit, and […] Read More...
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Comments Off on Reputation for Excessive Billing Costs Lawyer Over $1 Million in Fees
By Zachary Kalmbach. A firm’s practice of excessive billing led a New York court to reduce an attorneys’ fees and costs award by 52%. Plaintiff sued the City of New York and several NYPD officers, alleging, among other claims, excessive force. The jury found one of the officers liable for $175,000. Plaintiff, who was represented […] Read More...
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Comments Off on New York Court Slashes “Excessive” Fees in Half
