Fee Hearing Now Scheduled for July 16, 2009.
In our past post of June 15, 2009, we mentioned that a fee request hearing was scheduled in Orange County Superior Court on June 25, 2009 to approve a settlement between The Orange County Register and a group of newspaper carriers alleging that they were employees rather than independent contractors. Also, the plaintiffs were seeking attorney’s fees.
Newsboy Cigars. c1894. Library of Congress.
The Register argued, in effect, that plaintiffs had reneged on an alleged “agreement” to cap fees and costs to an amount no greater than $14 million, asking instead for $21 million in fees and about $2.4 million in costs. In response, Dan Callahan, carriers’ lead attorney, had replied that there was no such agreement, because the settlement only indicated that The Register would not oppose a fee award over the specified figure (meaning that carriers could seek more, but that The Register could then object to it) and that he had expressly nixed language in draft settlement agreement that would have established a cap.
At the settlement approval/fee hearing, according to a June 26, 2009 newspaper article, Orange County Superior Court Judge David C. Velasquez approved the settlement. On the fee issue, his tentative was to grant plaintiffs $12 million in fees plus $2 million in nonfee costs—the maximum The Register had agreed to pay without objection. However, the tentative did indicate that a fair fee award would be higher, more like $16.8 million based on the complexity of and risks inherent in the case.
Judge Velasquez scheduled a further July 16, 2009 hearing for arguments on the fee request. We are sure to give you a further update on this one.
For more information on this latest hearing, see John Gittelsohn’s article “Register settles lawsuit with its carrier,” which was carried in the June 26, 2009 edition of The Orange County Register.
