Business Development

Court to Parents: No Tough Love, No Cars

A lack of tough love has cost two Washington state parents their cars. Because they didn’t act quickly enough to snatch back their car keys from a son who apparently was using their vehicles to deal drugs, according to authorities, they were properly seized by the government under drug-forfeiture laws…

Sep 19, 2007 11:48 PM CDT

Fee Cap Crippling Defense, Lawyer Says

Lawyers for alleged Atlanta courthouse gunman Brian Nichols told a judge that disputes over their state-paid legal fees are crippling the defense team. Lead defense lawyer Henderson Hill said the state intends to pay only about a third the estimated fees and costs of the defense, according to the Fulton…

Sep 19, 2007 2:12 PM CDT

Possible O.J. Legal Fee is Half a Million

If O.J. Simpson hires a Las Vegas lawyer to defend him on armed robbery charges, he’ll likely have to pony up about $500,000. That’s the going rate in the city, according to one lawyer, the New York Post reports in a story that relies on wire reports. “Hopefully, he has…

Sep 18, 2007 1:51 PM CDT

New Firm Resolves ‘Sunday Stomach’

Kevin Broyles once wanted to be a partner at a big-name law firm. But today he counts himself lucky to be able to leave his law office in time to coach Pee Wee football at 6:30 p.m. “It’s a matter of getting your priorities in order,” Broyles, 36, tells the…

Sep 17, 2007 11:05 PM CDT

Fuss Over Firm’s $1.8 M ‘Pro Bono’ Fee

A major Seattle-based law firm’s effort to collect $1.8 million from taxpayers in a pro bono case has ignited a firestorm of controversy. As provided for by statute, Davis Wright Tremaine wants to collect for seven years of work for a prevailing plaintiff in a reverse-race-discrimination case that went to…

Sep 17, 2007 9:35 PM CDT

Judge Slashes Fees Using Contingency Standard

A federal judge has rejected an attorney’s fee request that would have consumed nearly two-thirds of a $100,000 settlement for a man wrongly accused in a drug case. Judge David Hurd of Utica, N.Y., slashed fees from $63,000 to $29,000, the New York Law Journal reports. The lawyer and his…

Sep 14, 2007 1:21 PM CDT

$350K Legal Bill in Closed-Meetings Case

A town in Washington state has racked up $340,000 in legal fees to defend litigation over allegedly illegal closed-door meetings of the municipal council. And that amount could rise by another $250,000 if the plaintiffs win their case against four current and former members of the Shoreline City Council, and…

Sep 13, 2007 9:15 PM CDT

Lawyer O’Quinn Ordered to Pay $41.4 M

Houston lawyer John O’Quinn owes $41.4 million because he overcharged former breast implant clients, an arbitration panel ruled yesterday. The amount owed climbed from the $35.7 million sum O’Quinn was ordered to pay in July after interest and attorney fees were added, the Houston Chronicle reports. The suit had claimed…

Sep 12, 2007 6:40 PM CDT

$500 Hourly Fee Enough, Judge Says

A judge has refused to approve $4.2 million in bonuses for lawyers involved in the Northwest Airlines bankruptcy case. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper of New York City said the lawyers, who charged average rates of $500 an hour, had already earned enough, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.).…

Sep 12, 2007 1:58 PM CDT

Shackled Fen-Phen Lawyers Seek Release, Judge Says No

Shackled and attired in faded gray-and-white-striped jail uniforms, three personal injury attorneys involved in mega-bucks fen-phen litigation attended a federal court hearing in Kentucky today to seek their release. Accused of bilking clients out of $64 million from a $200 million litigation settlement in 2001 concerning the diet drug combination,…

Sep 11, 2007 8:10 PM CDT

Top Broadcom Lawyer Charged up to $850 an Hour

The top lawyer for Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr charged up to $850 an hour for his work representing Broadcom Corp. in a patent dispute with a rival semiconductor maker. The rate, while substantial, is still below that charged by some top law firm partners: $1,000 an hour. Details…

Sep 10, 2007 2:11 PM CDT

2 NJ Law Firms Sued re Foreclosure Fees

Two law firms in New Jersey and the mortgage lenders who retained them are defending possible class actions over unauthorized fees that they allegedly imposed on homeowners facing foreclosure. While representing mortgage lenders in foreclosure cases, the two firms charged individual homeowners unspecified fees that weren’t authorized by statute or…

Sep 6, 2007 7:18 PM CDT

Client Turns Tables on Firm in Fee Dispute

A Texas plaintiffs firm that sued to collect an attorney fee from a former client in a medical malpractice case won exactly nothing after a three-day jury trial. But a Tarrant County jury awarded the client $1.4 million last month on his counterclaim against the firm for intentional infliction of…

Sep 5, 2007 11:47 PM CDT

$75 Million Attorney Fee an Iowa Record?

A judge’s approval today of a $180 million antitrust settlement by Microsoft Corp. includes $75 million in attorney fees and costs, which apparently sets an Iowa record. Lead counsel Roxanne Conlin of Des Moines, who brought the case with Richard Hagstrom of Minneapolis, says one reason why the legal bill…

Aug 31, 2007 10:22 PM CDT

$307 K Fee Is Price of Foot-Dragging

California has been burned by a “scorched-earth” approach to litigation over pay policies for inmates who work for private employers on prison grounds. A California appeals court affirmed an award of $307,000 in attorney fees, in addition to nearly $1.5 million already awarded, for litigation over the state’s failure to…

Aug 31, 2007 12:10 PM CDT