District Judge Rejected $1.7 Million In Fee and Costs Requested by Plaintiff’s Attorneys.
District Judge Michael Telesca, in Mendez v. The Radec Corporation, Case No. 03-cv-6342 (W.D.N.Y.), recently nixed plaintiffs’ attorneys’ request for a $1.7 million fees/costs award in a Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA) class action. The class obtained a settlement recovery of $225,000 such that only $473,793 in fees and costs were justified (broken down as $420,000 in fees and $53,793 in costs). By comparison, the defense indicated that the case was defended for $564,577 in fees and $18,900 in expenses.
In reducing the plaintiffs’ attorney’s request by 70%, the district judge indicated that the case dragged on for seven years in large part because plaintiffs demanded substantial attorney’s fees in any settlement. Defendant argued that the case could have been settled much sooner had the fee dispute not gotten the upper hand in prior settlement negotiations.
BLOG UNDERVIEW–We thank our friend Ben Shatz at Manatt Phelps for bringing this case to our attention.