Newsletter RSS

Mealey's Attorney Fees

  • March 13, 2026

    Judge Stays $623K Attorney Fee Sanction In Avocado Oil Case Pending Mandamus Writ

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted a plaintiff’s motion to stay a $623,000 attorney fee sanction against her attorneys for allegedly bringing a frivolous suit against Walmart Inc. pending the outcome of their petition for a writ of mandamus before the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on the condition that the plaintiff post a supersedeas bond in the full amount of the sanctions.

  • March 13, 2026

    9th Circuit Affirms Denial Of Attorney Fees For Web Mark Row Removal

    SAN FRANCISCO — An Arizona federal judge was not wrong to deny a plaintiff web development entity’s request for attorney fees from its domain registrar, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, finding that it was not unreasonable for the domain registrar to seek federal question jurisdiction on claims that it improperly blocked its use of a domain name in the United States as a result of an order from a judge in India regarding specific trademarks.

  • March 13, 2026

    Michigan High Court: Fees May Be Sought As Damages For Accounting Malpractice

    LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Supreme Court found that the Michigan Court of Appeals erred in denying a machinery company’s claim for attorney fees as damages for alleged accounting malpractice done by the accounting firm it had hired because it followed the American Rule rather than the high court’s ruling in Hark Orchids, LP v. Buie, which the high court held extends to accounting malpractice.

  • March 12, 2026

    1st Circuit Affirms Injunction Denial, Attorney Fees In Nurse’s Retaliation Case

    BOSTON — A First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held in affirming two separate orders that that a federal judge in Puerto Rico did not abuse her discretion in permissibly discounting vague entries and applying a downward adjustment to a nurse’s request for attorney fees and that the judge reasonably denied the nurse’s motion for permanent injunctive relief for two employment requests after she won a jury verdict in a retaliation suit against her employer.

  • March 12, 2026

    5th Circuit Affirms In Part Grant Of Summary Judgment, Attorney Fees

    NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed in part a lower court’s grant of summary judgment and attorney fees in a case brought by a petroleum company alleging that an environmental remediation services company had a duty to indemnify it in an underlying fraud action, finding that the district court erred by requiring the remediation company to pay exemplary and punitive damages incurred in the underlying action and attorney fees for that action but otherwise affirming the lower court’s ruling.

  • March 11, 2026

    Judge Rejects Parties’ Stipulation To Dismiss Coverage Suit Over Fatal Shooting

    GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A Montana federal judge on March 10 denied a liquor liability insurer and a bar owner insured’s stipulation to dismiss with prejudice the insurer’s lawsuit disputing coverage for an underlying negligence action arising from a fatal shooting at the insured’s bar, noting that to the extent the parties seek to dismiss the insured’s appeal of the judge’s grant of the insurer’s motion for summary judgment, they must seek relief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • March 11, 2026

    Nebraska High Court: Appellants Forfeited Issue Of Fee Agreement’s Effectiveness

    LINCOLN, Neb. — The Nebraska Supreme Court found that beneficiaries of a trust and devisees of a woman’s estate forfeited the issue of the effectiveness of a written fee agreement between the woman’s personal representative, the co-trustees of the trust and the law firm that represented them because they didn’t raise the issue on appeal to the Nebraska Court of Appeals.

  • March 10, 2026

    Liquor Liability Insurer, Insured Seek To Dismiss Coverage Suit Over Fatal Shooting

    GREAT FALLS, Mont. — The same day a liquor liability insurer told a Montana federal court that a bar owner insured fully satisfied a judgment including a $160,088 attorney fees award, the parties on March 9 filed a stipulation to dismiss with prejudice the insurer’s lawsuit disputing coverage for an underlying negligence action arising from a fatal shooting at the insured’s bar.

  • March 10, 2026

    Alaska High Court Vacates Attorney Fees Award, Finding Insufficient Evidence

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Alaska Supreme Court vacated an award of attorney fees worth more than $72,000 in favor of a condo association after finding that the condo association’s fees were not sufficiently supported by evidence and that the lower court did not fully require the association to show that the costs its attorneys incurred were related to the proceeding for which fees were awarded and not a separate case between the parties.

  • March 10, 2026

    Split Nevada Supreme Court Affirms Fee Award After Car Crash Judgment

    LAS VEGAS — A split Nevada Supreme Court affirmed the award of fees by a lower court after a jury awarded damages in a case arising from a head-on car crash, finding that though a pretrial offer listed nonparties as defendants, it was clear that the pretrial offer was for the defendant/appellant.

  • March 06, 2026

    In Mixed Ruling, Idaho High Court Reverses Summary Judgment, Sanctions

    BOISE, Idaho — Resolving an appeal of numerous decisions that favored a manufacturer sued in connection with a fatal farming accident, the Idaho Supreme Court reversed and remanded a three-sentence oral summary judgment ruling, reversed a grant of sanctions for alleged scheduling misrepresentations, affirmed the decision to strike “untimely opposition to summary judgment” and affirmed the award of attorney fees and costs for a motion to compel responses to discovery requests.

  • March 06, 2026

    11th Circuit: Attorney Failed To Show Right To Collaborator’s Fees After Settlement

    ATLANTA — An attorney and his firm failed to show that they entered into a joint venture with another attorney and his firm that would allow them to lay claim to half of more than $12 million in attorney fees awarded following an antitrust settlement in a multidistrict litigation, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled, affirming a trial court’s dismissal of the complaint.

  • March 06, 2026

    Judge Appoints Referee To Review Attorney Fees In $3.2M Data Breach Settlement

    GREENVILLE, N.C. — A North Carolina judge deferred ruling on a motion by plaintiffs in a data breach class action for $1.5 million in attorney fees, comprising approximately 47% of a $3.2 million settlement fund for patients affected by a medical company data breach, and appointed a referee to review the fees sought by plaintiffs after their attorneys provided “inadequate” billing records.

  • March 05, 2026

    Attorney Says Faulty Quotes Not AI’s Fault In Valve Patent Troll Trial

    SEATTLE — An attorney for a man accused by Valve Corp. of being a “patent troll” responded to a Washington federal judge’s order to show cause, arguing that fake quotations were caused by the error of a contract attorney; on the same day, the judge entered $11,500 in attorney fees against the defense for fees incurred during a discovery dispute before a recently completed trial.

  • March 04, 2026

    9th Circuit: Firm Size Should Not Be Factor In Calculating Unfair Competition Award

    PASADENA, Calif. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that a lower court abused its discretion by basing its lodestar calculation in part on the size of the law firm that represented the prevailing parties after a jury found that a manufacturer of eye drops violated state and federal law by providing the drops to large retailers at an impermissibly lower price than smaller wholesalers.

  • March 04, 2026

    English Judge Says Russia Must Pay $50B Oil Awards, But Not $60M In Attorney Fees

    LONDON — An English judge issued a ruling recognizing arbitral awards against the Russian Federation worth more than $50 billion in damages, reportedly worth more than 66 billion British pounds with interest, in favor of the former shareholders of an oil company whose assets in Russia were expropriated by the state in breach of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), but declined to recognize the tribunal’s award of more than $60 million in attorney fees based on Russia’s argument that the shareholders concealed documents from the tribunal.

  • March 03, 2026

    Magistrate Judge Grants Preliminary OK To Japanese Alcohol Labeling Settlement

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge granted preliminary approval to a settlement of a California consumer’s class action against a California company that was accused of deceptively marketing the origin of Japanese-style sake that is manufactured domestically, allegedly in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), with the settlement providing for injunctive relief and attorney fees of $645,000.

  • March 03, 2026

    Judge Gives Final Approval To $7.75M Settlement In Stock-Drop Class Action

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted final approval to a $7.75 million settlement in a class action brought by investors against a biopharmaceutical company and certain of its current and former executives that alleged that the defendants made false and misleading statements that caused the company’s stock price to drop and investors to lose money.

  • March 03, 2026

    5th Circuit Reverses Award Of Attorney Fees For Work On Unsuccessful Challenge

    NEW ORLEANS — Litigants challenging the enforcement of a consent decree entered decades ago relating to Texas’s administration of the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment program (EPSDT) were improperly awarded attorney fees for work related to two challenges that were unsuccessful, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held in partially reversing an order.

  • March 03, 2026

    South Dakota Supreme Court Reverses Attorney Fees For Wrongly Served Party

    PIERRE, S.D. — In a case of mistaken identity, a woman who was wrongly served with a debt collection complaint and had to hire an attorney to extract herself from the case failed to show violation of South Dakota Codified Law 15-6-11 (Rule 11) or bad faith by the attorneys representing Wells Fargo Bank N.A. even though the attorneys failed to respond to a letter demanding dismissal, the South Dakota Supreme Court ruled, reversing an attorney fee award for the woman.

  • February 24, 2026

    Insurer Files New Motion For Reconsideration In Water Damage Coverage Dispute

    LOS ANGELES — A general liability insurer filed a new motion asking a federal judge in California to reconsider his grant of summary judgment to developers on their declaratory judgment and breach of contract claims against the insurer after the judge issued docket-only orders striking the insurer’s earlier motions for reconsideration.

  • February 24, 2026

    5th Circuit: Texas Federal Judge Failed To Explain Fees In Copyright Case

    NEW ORLEANS — While a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel rejected plaintiff-appellants’ arguments that a Texas federal judge lacked jurisdiction to enter attorney fees in a copyright row after the Fifth Circuit had already affirmed an earlier finding that the parties would bear their own fees and costs, the panel also found that the judge failed to provide a lodestar analysis to explain the $500,000 awarded in attorney fees.

  • February 24, 2026

    Judge Confirms Arbitration Awards Including Nearly $2.4M For Attorney Fees

    PHOENIX — Resolving competing motions in favor of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) participant who filed a putative class complaint but was forced into individual arbitration, an Arizona federal judge confirmed an $11,029.50 arbitration award and an order awarding $2,359,909 in attorney fees incurred during the arbitration proceedings and $132,310.97 in arbitration costs.

  • February 24, 2026

    Employers To Pay $1.7M In Attorney Fees Over Invasive Application Questions

    SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge granted final approval to a settlement of $1 per class member, amounting to approximately $172,000, and granted a motion for attorney fees of $1,775,000 to the plaintiffs’ attorneys to resolve class action claims against multiple employers for requiring job applicants to answer invasive medical inquiries, including when one plaintiff’s last menstrual period was, in violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and California’s unfair competition law (UCL).

  • February 23, 2026

    Changes To Hong Kong Tribunal Tainted $5.7M Attorney Fee Award, Court Told

    LOS ANGELES — A Dutch company based in California and two California citizens on Feb. 20 filed a motion in California federal court for reconsideration of an order confirming a Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) award against them worth more than $5.7 million, mostly comprising attorney fees in addition to arbitration costs, writing that the arbitration was flawed due to a new law that forced two of their counsel to resign and rendered HKIAC “incapable of impartial administration.”