Both Sides Had Paid Or Owed A Cumulative $1.841 Million In Dissolution Proceedings. We are not sure that the appellate court was happy with any of the parties in this case that we now report on. After all, in the dissolution saga, ex-husband had paid attorneys $900,000, still owing $70,000, while ex-wife had paid […]
$198,000 Was The Mean Annual Compensation, And Most Attorneys Would Have Chosen A Law Career Again. The Martindale Legal Marketing Network, in 2018, has initiated its first annual Attorney Compensation Report which involved a survey of more than 7,800 U.S. attorneys across two dozen practice areas—concentrating on 6,902 full-time practitioners who were either solo
Appellate Court Can Fix, But Better Practice Is To Have Trial Judge Do So. Prevailing parties on appeal in a situation where a written agreement provides for fees are entitled to receive a fee award as the winners on appeal. (Stairpoint Properties, LLC v. Namvar, 201 Cal.App.4th 1101, 1111 (2011).) When this happens, who
Trial Judge Correctly Dismissed Trustee’s Interpleader Complaint. In Placer Foreclosure, Inc. v. Aflalo, Case No. B268589 (2d Dist., Div. 6 May 30, 2018) (published), a foreclosure trustee foreclosed an owner’s property based on a deed of trust, with the sale resulting in surplus proceeds of $ 974,786.81. The former owner sued trustee and foreclosure buyer
Prison Litigation Reform Act Did Not Cap Unruh Act Fee Recovery. In Rodriguez v. County of Los Angeles, No. 13-56292 et al. (9th Cir. May 30, 2018) (published), the Ninth Circuit reviewed and affirmed 42 U.S.C. § 1983 excessive force verdicts of $740,000 in compensatory damages and $210,000 in punitive damages (the latter against
$5 Million In Legal, Accounting, And Consulting Fees Relating To Private Fraud Investigation In Bankruptcy Proceedings Not Recoverable Under The Act. In Lagos v. United States, No. 16-1519 (U.S. Sup. Ct. May 29, 2018), petitioner was convicted of using a company he controlled to defraud a lender of tens of millions of dollars. After the
Litigant Failed To Show Fee Entitlement. Assuming that a fee motion is timely filed, the next big obstacle for a fee claimant is demonstrating – drum roll time! – fee entitlement. That obstacle was not cleared by appellant in Schneider v. Deam, Case No. A150027 (1st Dist., Div. 2 May 29, 2018) (unpublished).
Appellant Argued Small Claims Special Statutory Prohibition Applied, But It Did Not. We once in a long while get a case involving a small claims matter, which the next case happens to be. These matters, in the fees and costs area, usually focus on whether general CCP routine costs provisions prevail or whether special
District Judge Sustained $990 Hourly Rates As Reasonable For Some Senior Defense Attorneys With Large U.S. Firms. On May 23, 2018, U.S. District Judge William Walls (D.N.J.) unsealed a 39-page decision by which he articulated reasons for awarding defendant Zimmer Corp. $13,296,559 (out of a requested $13.5 million) in attorney’s fees and $513,258 (the
Substantial Number Of Firms Say Pricing Is Key Client Concern, With Nearly 80% Believing That Non-Hourly Billing Is A Permanent Trend. Altman Weil, in its survey entitled “2018 Law Firms in Transition,” has some interesting statistics showing that law increasingly is a more volatile marketplace than in past years. Conducted in March – April
