Attorney Fees
Magistrate Cuts 50 Hours, $400K From Fees, Cites ‘Contentiousness’
Posted Jun 5, 2008, 07:57 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A federal magistrate has cut 50 hours and $400,000 from a request for attorney fees by the firm Outten & Golden in employment litigation that at times turned rancorous.
New York Magistrate Judge James Francis IV said some work performed by the law firm was unjustified and partly agreed with the defense that the proceedings were "multiplied by the contentiousness of plaintiffs' counsel,” the New York Law Journal reports. But he also said defense law firm Littler Mendelson had "some responsibility for the rancor in this case."
Besides cutting hours, Francis also reduced the fee request of partner Kathleen Peratis from $675 an hour to $600, the story says. He said the firm should receive about $1 million in fees instead of the $1.4 million requested.
Francis noted Outten & Golden has an outstanding reputation and helped plaintiff Mary Rozell obtain a “substantial” settlement in her sexual harassment suit against Andco LLC. As part of the deal, the law firm agreed to submit its fee claim to a magistrate.