Justices Wary Of Enhanced Fees For Exceptional Work

By Ryan Davis

Law360, New York (October 14, 2009, 6:15 PM ET) -- The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court have expressed skepticism about whether judges should be allowed to increase fee awards for exceptional performance by pro bono plaintiffs attorneys in civil rights cases, raising concerns about how such enhancements can be applied and justified.

During oral arguments on Wednesday, several justices said they were worried that allowing judges to hand out enhanced fees in such a way seems ripe for abuse and appears difficult to justify to taxpayers, who foot the bill for the fees.

The case...
To view the full article, take a free trial now.

Already a subscriber? Click here to login

You must correct or enter the following before you can submit this form:

All fields required

  5. Required

Only Law360 gives you:

Non-stop coverage of high-stakes litigation across 30 practices

Real-time tracking and reports on 10,000+ companies, firms and industries

Over 80,000 attorney profiles with neutral data collected from active lawsuits

Research tools to find cases, court documents, attorneys and companies

Customized feeds and alerts that can easily be shared with colleagues

In-depth expert analysis from high-profile attorneys at top firms

Access to our vault with over 75,000 original articles