Mealey's Attorney Fees : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Attorney Fees

June 10, 2025
Judge Won’t Stay Fees Bid Pending Appeal Of LTD Ruling For Claimant

PITTSBURGH — A motion for more than $126,000 in attorney fees will proceed after a Pennsylvania magistrate judge denied an insurer’s request for a stay pending resolution of its appeal of a summary judgment ruling in favor of a physician who successfully challenged denial of her claim for long-term disability (LTD) benefits.
June 10, 2025
Class Definitions Are Focus Of Reconsideration Bid After Judgment In Benefits Row

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge who after a bench trial entered final judgment in favor of plaintiffs and awarded class counsel $9,149,204.25 in attorney fees has been asked to reconsider what the defendants argue was improper expansion of class definitions; the Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute centers on corporate restructuring that affected retirement benefits.
June 09, 2025
Insurer’s Motion To Compel Granted In Row Over Coverage For Underlying FCA Suit

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A New York federal magistrate judge granted an insurer’s motion to compel discovery in a dispute over whether its insureds are entitled to coverage in an underlying qui tam suit alleging violations of the federal False Claims Act (FCA) regarding Medicare fraud, finding in part that the policyholders’ argument that the motion is barred by delay lacks “merit.”
June 06, 2025
Federal Judge: District Court Does Not Have Jurisdiction To Enforce Remand Order

BAY CITY, Mich. — A motion to enforce a remand order filed by a group of farmers was denied in a Michigan federal court in a crop insurance dispute involving a dry-bean revenue endorsement (DBRE), after the judge ruled that the court did not retain jurisdiction when the litigation was remanded and said that the farmers must file a new case under Administrative Procedures Act (APA) to continue proceedings.
June 06, 2025
Alaska High Court OKs Attorney Fees In Failed Debt Collection Cases

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Alaska Supreme Court has affirmed judgment for three credit card holders in small-amount purchased debt collection cases and affirmed varying attorney fee awards for all three consumers for violation of the state’s unfair trade/consumer protection law by the collection agency.
June 05, 2025
$4.95M Deal Gets Final OK In ERISA Tobacco Surcharge Suit That Preceded Wave

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A Missouri federal judge has granted final approval to the $4.95 million class settlement of a suit that was filed months before a recent wave of similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act challenges to health plans’ tobacco surcharges; the named plaintiff said the total represents “approximately 35% of the tobacco surcharges at issue in the full, six-year look-back window.”
June 04, 2025
Judgment Amended To Add Over $10M In Prejudgment Interest In Insurers’ ACA Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge issued an order granting objecting members of nondispute subclasses’ motion to amend a judgment to include prejudgment interest in a risk-corridor payment class action dispute under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), finding that the equitable award should be based upon the common fund escrow account rate.
June 04, 2025
Valve’s Patent Validity Suit Stayed While Defendants’ Counsel Seek Payment

SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge issued a 45-day stay of video game company Valve Corp.’s complaint against a man the company accuses of being a “patent troll,” entities he controls and others while the defendants seek new counsel and the court mulls the defendants’ current counsel’s motion to withdraw from the case for lack of payment.
June 03, 2025
Judge Orders Pesticide Company To Provide More Answers In IP Discovery Dispute

COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio federal magistrate judge on June 2 ordered plaintiff pesticide manufacturers identify with specificity the protectible elements of two copyrights they say were infringed by a defendant pesticide manufacturer, granting the defendant company’s motion to compel discovery in which the company accused the plaintiff entities of responding to questions about the copyrights with “evasive” answers.
June 03, 2025
Federal Judge Approves TCPA Class Settlement In Newspaper Subscription Suit

PHILADELPHIA — A Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) settlement that will provide class members with at least $800 each “is in excess of many class-action settlements in cases under the” TCPA, a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled, granting final approval of the $450,000 agreement between a telecommunications company and a certified class of individuals who received more than one newspaper subscription phone call in the last four years despite being on the National Do-Not-Call Registry (DNC).
June 03, 2025
Aerospace Engineering Firms’ Settlements Granted Final OK In No-Poaching Suit

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A federal judge in Connecticut issued a pair of orders granting final approval of approximately $60.5 million in settlements reached in a class case by workers who accuse aerospace engineering firms and executives of conspiring to not solicit, recruit, hire without prior approval or otherwise compete for engineers and other skilled employees and awarding attorney fees, costs and service awards.
May 30, 2025
Michigan Supreme Court: Attorney Fee Sanction Allowed Under Then-Court Rule

LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Supreme Court has reversed dismissal of a $169,512 attorney fee sanction in a dental malpractice case, saying the trial court correctly applied a court rule allowing such an award that was in effect during the pendency of the case.
May 29, 2025
Final OK Given To $3.25 Million Settlement Of Class Action Over USAA Data Breach

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — An almost 4-year-old suit over a 2021 data breach experienced by United Services Automobile Association (USAA) was resolved when a New York federal judge approved a $3.25 million settlement between the insurance company and a lone lead plaintiff, disposing of claims including negligence and violation of the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA).
May 28, 2025
$8.9M Settlement By Soda Company For ‘Prebiotic’ Claims Gets Preliminary OK

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted an unopposed motion for preliminary approval of an $8.9 million settlement by the manufacturer of a soda product that was sued by consumers for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws due to the product being deceptively labeled as “Prebiotic” and “gut healthy” and approved the plaintiffs’ plan to request a 30% attorney fee award.
May 28, 2025
Golden Corral, Employees Settle Data Breach Class Action For $1.85 Million

RALEIGH, N.C. — A $1.85 million settlement of class claims over a 2013 data breach experienced by Golden Corral Corp. received final approval from a North Carolina federal judge, who deemed the restaurant chain’s agreement with a class of employees whose personally identifiable information (PII) was compromised in the breach to be “fair, reasonable, adequate, and in the best interests of the” class.
May 22, 2025
Kanye West Ordered To Supply Requested Discovery, Pay Fees In Copyright Fight

LOS ANGELES — Kanye West and associated entities must turn over evidence in a copyright infringement suit claiming the rapper included unapproved music samples in two tracks on his album “Donda,” a federal judge in California ruled; the judge held that West and the related entities were wrong to argue that they were not in possession of any responsive documents.
May 22, 2025
Judge Dismisses STD Benefits Case As Moot But Lets Claimant Seek Fees

CINCINNATI — Defendants that voluntarily reversed the challenged termination of short-term disability (STD) benefits after they were sued and paid up could still be liable for attorney fees under a brief May 21 dismissal ruling in which an Ohio federal judge fully adopted a report and recommendation, noting that the time for objections had expired without any being filed.
May 20, 2025
Fighting Fees, NFL Plan Urges 5th Circuit To Say Disability Claimant Had No Success

NEW ORLEANS — In its appellant brief urging the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse an award of more than $1.25 million in attorney fees and costs, the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan called the award “an unprecedented expansion of the availability of attorney’s fees to ERISA litigants who do not succeed on any legal claim and obtain no judicial relief.”
May 20, 2025
Judge Denies Attorney Fees To Activist Who Posted Hunter Biden Files

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on May 19 denied a motion for attorney fees filed by a conservative activist and his organization against whom Hunter Biden had brought claims for violation of computer fraud laws and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) after they posted data from Biden’s laptop online, finding after the voluntary dismissal of Biden’s claims that fees were not warranted.
May 20, 2025
$6 Million Settlement Of Class Suit Over Union’s Data Breach Gets Final Approval

NEW YORK — Two union members were granted final approval of class negligence and breach of contract claims against a labor union over a 2023 data breach, with a New York federal judge deeming the $6 million settlement to be preferable to the expenses and “uncertainties of continued litigation.”
May 20, 2025
Review Of Attorney Fee Denial Sought After USDA Program Repeal Moots Bias Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Tennessee farmer filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking consideration of two questions regarding the scope of “substantially justified” conduct under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) and strict scrutiny standard applicable to race discrimination after a split Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed denial of his request for attorney fees in a case in which the farmer secured a preliminary injunction freezing a U.S. Department of Agriculture debt-relief program but then entered a stipulation of dismissal after the challenged program was repealed.
May 20, 2025
3rd Circuit Affirms Prevailing Plaintiff Ruling, Splits On Attorney Fee Amount

PHILADELPHIA — Noting that after Lackey v. Stinnie, “it bears repeating” that “a plaintiff who vindicates a statutory right under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) . . . is a prevailing party entitled to collect attorneys’ fees,” a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel unanimously affirmed that a plaintiff was entitled to attorney fees but split over whether the trial court erred in reducing the fees based on the limited relief the plaintiff obtained.
May 19, 2025
Panel Reverses Judgment For Insurer In Hurricane Damage Dispute Over Attorney Fees

LAKELAND, Fla. — In a dispute over coverage for hurricane damage, a Florida appeals court on May 16 reversed and remanded a lower court’s ruling providing that pursuant to Florida law, the insurer was entitled to recover attorney fees and costs from the date of a settlement proposal rejected by a restoration services company, finding that the lower court erred in not applying binding Florida Supreme Court precedent.
May 19, 2025
Judgment Proposal, Fee Request Are Disputed In ERISA Spinoff Benefits Case

PHILADELPHIA — Following a bench trial and numerous posttrial rulings in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action over corporate restructuring that affected retirement benefits, the parties are briefing disputes over the plaintiffs’ proposed final judgment, with their disagreements generally centering on whether certain groups of employees are included in the certified class.
May 16, 2025
Attorney Fees Motion Deemed Premature After Defense Verdict In Pandemic Policy Case

ST. LOUIS — A federal judge in Missouri found premature an employee’s pro se motion to block any request for attorney fees or sanctions after a jury returned a verdict for her employer in her lawsuit challenging the organization’s pandemic policies.