Judge Limits Tax-Sale Legal Fees
A Baltimore municipal judge has limited attorney fees that may be charged by foreclosing lawyers in city tax sale cases.
In a 51-page opinion today, Circuit Judge Evelyn O. Cannon says lawyers in these cases can charge only a specified flat fee of from $1,300 to $1,500, rather than on an hourly basis, and limits the expenses for which they can be reimbursed, reports the Baltimore Sun.
Her ruling concludes a review she began a year ago, as head of the court’s civil division, when she realized many attorney fee requests weren’t supported by documentation, the newspaper notes. It is expected to reduce the attorney fees charged concerning many properties involved in tax sales.
“The court suspects that its opinion will leave most parties in this controversy unsatisfied,” Cannon wrote in her opinion. “Many plaintiffs’ counsel will find the fee too low and the documentation requirements too high. Defendants and their advocates also are likely to be disappointed to realize that redemption fees after a complaint has been filed still will be a costly affair.”
