Judge Link Awards Only Half of Requested Fees to Prevailing Homeowners in Tree-Cutting Case.
This next story contains some good clues to all attorney’s fees claimants about the type of issues that will bother a trial judge when a substantial fee request comes up for hearing.
In January 2007, City of Poway workers cut down trees on two homeowners’ properties, using out-of-date maps, to gain access to reach manholes near a creek behind the properties. Two homeowners sued the City for the tree cutting, and were respectively awarded $144,763 and $84,328 by a jury (albeit reduced by 20% for homeowners’ comparative fault). Because a civil rights violation claim was involved, plaintiffs moved to recoup fees of $814,270 and costs of $103,000 from Poway.
On December 18, 2009, San Diego County Superior Court Judge Frederic Link held a hearing on the fees/costs requests, eventually awarding only half of the requested fees and $42,000 of the requested costs.
In doing so, Judge Link characterized the plaintiffs’ efforts in the case as “overkill,” although admitting Poway “should be hanging its head for what it did.” Besides finding the requested fees to be excessive, Judge Link said he was bothered by the fact that plaintiffs’ attorney did not try to work the matter out with the City (which had earlier offered to replace the trees).
For more details on this one, see Gary Warth’s story “Poway: Judge reduces legal fees city must pay in tree-cutting case,” posted on December 18, 2009 at the North County (San Diego) Times website.
University of Phoenix Settles Recruiter Lawsuit For $78.5 Million, Including $11 Million for Fees and Costs.
Some University of Phoenix recruiters apparently filed a class action against the University of Phoenix based on the Higher Education Act, which prohibits schools receiving federal financial aid from paying their recruiters based on the number of students they enroll (creating a risk of encouraging recruitment of unqualified students which, in turn, results in higher default rates that are ultimately borne by taxpayers). The recruiters charged that the University of Phoenix violated federal law by ranking counselors by their sign-ups and giving the highest recruiting producers bigger salaries, benefits and incentives (including DVD players or special spa trips).
Recently, the parties settled for $78.5 million, which included $11 million in attorney’s fees and costs. The bulk of the award goes to the federal government. The settlement is pending for final approval by a federal district judge. This settlement comes after newly released government statistics show a much higher default rate for students enrolled in for-profit programs as opposed to community college/state funded not-for-profit schools.
See more in Lisa M. Krieger’s December 15, 2009-posted story “University of Phoenix settles lawsuit filed by San Jose-based recruiters,” available for reading on-line at The Mercury News website.
Comments