A collection of Legal Fees Articles from the Past Week…
Boise County Denied Chapter 9 Bankruptcy Protection (Idaho Statesman) – A $4 million dollar judgement, and $1.4 million dollar award of plaintiff’s attorneys’ fees led Boise County to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection to insulate it from the judgments. The judge determined that the county was not insolvent, as is required by the Code. Since enacted in 1937, only 625 municipalities have filed for the protection, and a Chicago attorney quoted in the article said almost 1/3 of the filings are thrown out or withdrawn.
Hawaii Farm Owners Seek Legal Fees for “Frivolous” Case (Houston Chronicle) – Two Hawaii farmers are seeking over $300,000 dollars to cover their defense against a federal forced labor charge. The brothers were accused by the government of forcing Thai immigrants to work for them, and after accruing the fees, the government suddenly dropped the case. They are seeking fees pursuant to a federal statute awarding fees when a case is “frivolous”.
Clerical Charges Cause Fee Reduction (Sterling Analytics) – Recently, a District Court in Oregon reduced a plaintiff’s fee request by over $48,000. Part of this reduction was based on the attorney’s billing of clerical and administrative tasks. Specifically, the court deducted 79.7 hours representing purely clerical tasks from the fees requested.
Outside Fee Expert Called into St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg Times) – Hillsborough County does not dispute that they owe a former administrator attorneys’ fees, but they are questioning the amount due. The county is bringing in an outside legal expert to consult on the fees charged. The two former employees are seeking about $132,000 in charges they amassed while defending themselves of criminal charges.
