Plaintiffs’ Attorney May Seek $12 Million in Fees.
In a high profile case filed in Orange County Superior Court, the Orange County Register newspaper agreed to pay about $22 million in settlement to newspaper carriers claiming that they were employees rather than independent contractors. The settlement did not preclude the Register from claiming that the carriers were employees, did not prevent carriers from suing in the future over the issue, and expressly allowed the trial court to decide who was the prevailing party as far as award of attorney’s fees was concerned. The Register additionally agreed to pay up to $14 million to the carriers’ attorneys for fees and costs.
This should be an interesting outcome on fees, because carriers will be seeking fees under various fee-shifting provisions of the Labor Code. Carriers’ lead attorney, Daniel J. Callahan, has publicized that he will seek about $12 million fees from the Register at a later proceeding before the trial court. It remains to be seen whether the $14 million settlement “buffer” is enough to compensate carriers’ attorneys for their requested fees.
For more information on the settlement, see John Gittelsohn’s article, “Register settles lawsuit by newspaper carriers,” in the November 24, 2008 Orange County Register. Mr. Gittelsohn reports that jurors were surprised by the settlement – “May the record reflect ‘mouths agaping.'” (BLOG OBSERVATION—Not quite as breath sucking as the fees apparently spent by Mattel and MGA Entertainment in the Bratz doll case being litigated in Riverside County Superior Court, as reported in our post of September 10, 2008.)