After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too - Consumerist Comments

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

doctor_cos — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 10:42:15 EDT

@Me: Why not make the lawyers earn an honest living like the rest of us?

doctor_cos

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

Me — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:39:27 EDT

Waaa! Someone else is making money and I'm not!!!! Make the nasty attorneys give it to me!!!!!

What a bunch of socialist BS.

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

doctor_cos — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:09:30 EDT

While we're limiting how much plaintiffs get, why not limit the attorney fees as well. This is a self-propagating problem, as the actual 'laws' tend to be written by (and for) lawyers.

It's those scummy 99% of lawyers that give the other 1% a bad image.

doctor_cos

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

mac-phisto — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 07:37:16 EDT

@Thorny: sounds like a plan to me!

of course, we'll have to relieve businesses of those pesky profits too & apply that to the national debt or education or something.

@the corporate shills in the room: 1) NONE of us are customers of the credit bureaus - even when you "buy" a report. their customers are the companies that report tradelines. so if anyone ends up paying more, it will be the companies that report. 2) it's judgments such as this one that give you the rights you have today. we take for granted that we get yearly free credit reports & that bureaus/businesses must work with us in cases of ID theft - these consumer rights have their basis in litigation. 30 years ago, you didn't even have a right to the information that was reported about you. 20 years ago, you had to pay to get it & you had no right to your score. finally, FINALLY, we are chipping away the immunity that CRBs formerly had (& even still have under FCRA & FACTA legislation).

mac-phisto

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

RandomHookup — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 07:04:05 EDT

Thank goodness they got that extra $1. Wouldn't have been worth the time otherwise.

RandomHookup

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

ironchef — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 06:03:22 EDT

@Thorny:

some attorneys actual go as high as 50%...not 33% when you factor their "expenses" in.

33% is just a FEE.
All that paralegals, filings, travel, etc. is tacked ON TOP of the 33%.

ironchef

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

alice_bunnie — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 05:32:30 EDT

In this case, good. And, good that it's not coming out of her judgment. It's the big class action judgments that really chap my ass, when they get millions of dollars and I get a coupon for 10% off a future purchase.

alice_bunnie

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

loueloui — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:44:00 EDT

@Buran:

Generally, I would agree. However working on a contingency creates an extra incentive for an attorney to settle out of court, or not take a case which would involve a small judgement. I know 2 attorneys personally, and from what I've heard some of the more seedier ones will only take cases which they know will be settled out of court quickly, and with little effort.

That's not to say I am against any professional being paid for their hard work. But when you come across class action suits where the legal fees are a significant percentage of the award. It's easy to see where this can get out of hand. Maybe a reasonable cap on the amount would make sense.

loueloui

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

bhelverson — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:05:40 EDT

Buckus said In cases where the defendant plans to appeal, I think they should be forced to place the amount of the original judgement into an escrow account until appeals are exhausted.

Actually, that is the general rule. The winner an petition the Court to require a monetary appeal bond. This, of course, prevents someone from filing an appeal just to delay paying a judgment.

bhelverson

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

Thorny — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:55:51 EDT

If attorneys did not get 33% of verdicts, I highly doubt we'd have most of the lawsuits we have now.

There should be a maximum award allowed to plaintiffs, and the rest should go towards paying off our national debt or funding education, or something like that. There's no reason that someone with a screwed up credit history should get $3 million dollars.

Thorny

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

StevieD — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:59:37 EDT

@kelptocratic:

Yep.

A lawyer costs money.

A good lawyer costs "good" money.

Even in small town America it is possible to spend $1000 per hour for a specialist.

StevieD

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

Trai_Dep — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:59:03 EDT

Hey, so long as it punishes unresponsive companies that do wrong, juries can give millions to al Quada for all I care. So long as the evil-doers suffer.

Trai_Dep

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

Buckus — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:55:36 EDT

Every time they bill you and send you the bill through the mail, that's mail fraud.

Anyone seen "The Firm"

Buckus

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

Buckus — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:54:39 EDT

In cases where the defendant plans to appeal, I think they should be forced to place the amount of the original judgement into an escrow account until appeals are exhausted. That way they can't just go out of business or file bankruptcy. And it's an immediate hit to their pocketbook. If they don't cough up the money within a certain time, say 5 business days, they get held in contempt of court.

Just sayin...

Buckus

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

Sam Glover — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:45:50 EDT

@asuteke: I am not sure what firm you work at, but padding is unethical, and there is not "always" bill padding.

Sam Glover

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

kelptocratic — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:42:55 EDT

Litigation is very, very expensive.

kelptocratic

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

XopherMV — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:35:33 EDT

Attorneys often take on these cases on a contingency basis, meaning they only get paid if they win. So, their winning cases have to pay for all the cases in which they lose. On top of that, multiple people work on these cases, it can take years for a case to actually go to trial, appeals further delay payment, and that they could lose at any time. Despite all of that, they still have to pay their bills.

XopherMV

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

Pro-Pain — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:47:50 EDT

@ b612markt - I couldn't agree with you more!

Pro-Pain

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

thefertileoctogenarian — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:35:45 EDT

to howie_in_az

the prices that the credit morons can charge has a maximum fixed by law. they'll probably just take it out on us by being even less efficient.

thefertileoctogenarian

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

asuteke — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:28:47 EDT

@Buran: I work at a law firm. Generally they charge a fair price, though there is always bill padding going on. General rule of thumb is the more you pay the better the service. I.e. if you want college educated paralegals who know what they are doing and lawyers who went to a top tier school, pay more.

asuteke

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

howie_in_az — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:16:51 EDT

@b612markt: Yeah but now us mere mortals will have to pay $10 more every time we want to see our credit report (outside of the once-per-year freebie).

howie_in_az

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

b612markt — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:44:33 EDT

I'm always thrilled to see companies like Equifax, RIAA, Ticketmaster get hit with big amounts. it makes me happy.

b612markt

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

thefertileoctogenarian — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:43:54 EDT

yeah and what would Williams pay if she lost?

Nothing. The attorneys, who had spent all their time working on this and passing up other work would not get paid one cent.

Williams either had to pay them part of her award if she won or nothing if she lost. Not a bad deal.

Maybe you guys should understand that the compensation structure has a component of risk for attorneys that they might not get paid.

thefertileoctogenarian

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

BigElectricCat — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:31:10 EDT

Good for Ms. Williams, and good for her attorneys.

If EQ was so recalcitrant, then they deserve the $3.5M hit.

BigElectricCat

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

Buran — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:29:46 EDT

@timmus: Well, they did do the work of preparing the lawsuit (though I don't know if the amount is really justified, not being familiar with what was done, and not knowing any attorneys well enough to just ask).

In cases like this where the defendant is at fault, I only think it fair they have to pay the bill. They could have avoided paying, after all, if they had done what they should have done and fixed the report and not spread lies.

Buran

After a multimillion-dollar verdict, attorneys get fee award, too

timmus — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:23:57 EDT

Those country club fees and Escalade payments must be a killer.

timmus