Lawyers Who Asked for Fees 40x the Settlement they Negotiated Dealt $280K Blow
“Plaintiffs lawyers shouldn’t have been awarded $280,000 for negotiating a $15,000 settlement, a Los Angeles appeals court has ruled,” reports John O’Brien in Legal Newsline Stories.
“The California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District issued its ruling on May 21 in a blow to lawyers who claimed to spend more than 800 hours on the lawsuit and initially requested close to $600,000 in fees and expenses.”
“The decision comes in a former server’s lawsuit against Fleming’s Steakhouse & Wine Bar’s. She alleged she was deprived her 10-minute breaks, but her lawyers claimed the settlement included wage and hour claims that entitled them to recover fees.”
“Afterwards, attorneys at Felahy Employment Lawyers and Yash Law Group sought $580,794 in fees and more than $16,000 in costs, claiming they spent 869.6 hours were incurred. They said the wage and hour claims were ‘closely intertwined’ with retaliation and wrongful termination claims.”
