Building a Better Redondo Awarded $313,000 in Private Attorney General Fees.
In our October 12, 2010 “In the News” post, we talked about Building a Better Redondo seeking a substantial fee award against the City of Redondo Beach for successfully getting Measure G on the upcoming November 2 ballot. Building a Better Redondo then sought to recoup nearly $355,000 in attorney’s fees under California’s private attorney general statute. On October 25, 2010, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert O’Brien awarded Building a Better Redondo $313,000 in fees. City had sought to hold the award to $128,729, arguing that Plaintiff’s lead attorney’s $550 hourly rate was excessive when compared to the City’s attorney’s $265 rate. For more information on this one, see Kristin S. Agostoni’s October 26, 2010 post on the dailybreeze.com.
First Circuit Court of Appeals Reduces Whistleblower Lawyers’ Fee From $292,000 to $50,000.
An interesting whistleblower story has emerged out of U.S. v. Hawthorn, Case No. 09-2684 (1st Cir. Oct. 18, 2010), which can be found at a hyperlink in Daniel J. Popeo’s October 26, 2010 post. Basically, plaintiffs’ whistleblower attorney had a 33% contingency fee agreement under which attorney was owed $292,000 after plaintiffs won their whistleblowing claim and reward. However, the First Circuit, using the inherent supervisory power of the courts to supervise attorneys practicing before them, agreed with the district judge that the fee award needed to be reduced. Although the district judge reduced the award to $25,000, the appeals court found that $50,000 was the right number (another $25,000 in fees in connection with the second plaintiff). Given the limited effort and risk in the case, the 33% fee would have been excessive given that plaintiffs’ attorney “piggybacked” on the government’s efforts. What makes the case significant is that the court reduced the fee to uphold the intent of creating whistleblower incentives, meaning the money goes to the whistleblowers to incentivize their conduct.
You just put your lips together . . .