Lawyers practicing in the Commercial Division are keenly aware of issues related to attorneys’ fee awards in commercial cases. Commercial agreements commonly contain a provision awarding attorneys’ fees to a prevailing party...more
Takeaway: Courts are continuing to take a hard look at class action fee awards, and in In re T-Mobile Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, --- F.4th ----, 2024 WL 3561874 (8th Cir. July 29, 2024), the Eighth Circuit...more
In case you missed it, this post recaps some key False Claims Act (FCA) decisions and case updates from the second quarter of this year. Courts weighed in on the FCA’s anti-retaliation provision, its first-to-file bar, and...more
Earlier this year, a federal district court judge in the Western District of North Carolina declined to award “bad faith” attorney’s fees under the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA). See Design Gaps, Inc. v. Hall, No....more
Whether you’re considering a move for—or defending against—an attorney fee award, it’s crucial to be aware of the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s recent decision in Fleig v. Landmark Constr. Grp., 2024 OK 25. In Fleig, the Supreme...more
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Classified Monthly: A Roundup of Class Action Decisions from Federal Appellate Courts. The Roundup normally will arrive in your inbox the first week of each month and will cover the...more
Key Points: A dispute over attorney’s fees alone cannot be the trigger for a lawsuit or a fee award under Fla. Stat. § 627.70152. Fla. Stat. § 627.70152 does not create a separate and independent right to attorney’s fees....more
Students of D&O litigation know that the plaintiffs’ bar works on a contingency basis. While some may bemoan this fact, the structure does create a set of clear incentives for rational economic actors. Plaintiff attorneys,...more
The Ninth Circuit recently struck a blow against plaintiffs’ attorneys’ ability to recover handsome attorney’s fee awards in class action settlements when there is little actual benefit to the class. In Lowery v Rhapsody...more
In Lowery v. Rhapsody International, Inc., —F.4th—, 2023 WL 3857499 (June 7, 2023), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed an award of attorneys’ fees to class counsel that was more than thirty times the amount...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in McKnight v. Hinojosa, No. 21-16623, 2022 WL 17333820 (9th Cir. Nov. 30, 2022) considered whether the proposed class action settlement was a "coupon settlement" and therefore...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld an attorneys’ fees award after the patent owner brought successive patent infringement suits attempting “to refile to wipe the slate clean” after the first court was...more
In Vermont Mutual Insurance Company v. Poirier, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled that attorney’s fees awarded under M.G. L. c. 93A are not covered by a Businessowner’s Liability Policy, because such fees...more
The 7th Circuit recently vacated a 25% attorneys’ fee award in In re Stericycle Securities Litigation, No. 20-2055, 2022 WL 1564997, at *1–14 (7th Cir. May 18, 2022). The Court’s reasoning focused on the previous litigation...more
This author has reached a point in his career where, if you were to ask me what my opinion is about the law on counsel fee awards in divorce in New York, my answer would be short and sweet, quoting a 1980s Hollywood film. ...more
Back in November, I wrote about the possibility of a fee award being immediately appealable if the amount in question is significant enough. In the latest batch of opinions from the Court of Appeals, that issue reared its...more
Hollywood Firefighters Pension Fund v. Malone, C.A. 220-0880-SG (Nov. 8, 2021) - A plaintiff may be entitled to a mootness fee if it shows that its action had merit and produced a corporate benefit. This case outlines the...more
A federal district court rejected a novel request from class counsel for reimbursement of counsel’s litigation funding expenses. According to the court in Perez v. Rash Curtis & Assoc., No. 16-03396 (N.D. Cal. October 1,...more
Earlier this month in Levy v. Levy, No. SC20-1195, 2021 WL 4614308 (Fla. Oct. 7, 2021), the Supreme Court of Florida issued a ruling that section 57.105(7) of the Florida Statutes did not apply to the attorney’s fee provision...more
Morrison v. Berry, C.A. No. 12808-VCG (Del. Ch. July 12, 2021) - Delaware courts generally do not award special compensation to lead plaintiffs in class action litigation. Delaware courts typically limit awards to...more
An LLC Jungle post from last year addressed the issue of whether derivative claims can be pursued for a dissolved LLC. See: Can Derivative Claims be Pursued for a Dissolved or Cancelled LLC? The short answer is “yes.”...more
We previously blogged about the Bisbing matter with respect to the precedent-setting decision that modified the standard for a custodial parent seeking to relocate with the minor children outside of the State of New Jersey,...more
Key Takeaways - The Ninth Circuit holds that, following changes to Rule 23(e), the Bluetooth factors for fairness of pre-certification class action settlements also apply to post-certification settlements....more
On March 5, 2021, the Federal Circuit affirmed U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken’s (S.D.N.Y.) order dismissing the remaining claims of plaintiff Bobcar Media, LLC (“Bobcar”). On March 30, 2021, Judge Oetken denied a motion...more
When is a win not a win? One ace in the hand of plaintiffs’ counsel in Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) litigation (as well as claims under Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act or the Age Discrimination in Employment...more