Attorneys Fees

Comprehensive amendments ordered by the Supreme Judicial Court to Mass. R. Prof. C. 1.5 on charging and collecting fees will take effect on March 15, 2011. Some of the revisions mirror amendments made to the corresponding ABA model rule in 2002; some are grammatical or stylistic and do not reflect…

District Court (Judge Michael Ponsor) ordered substantial attorneys fees award for settlement in brain injury class action on February 8, 2010.  The District Court decision interpreted the First Circuit's Aronov v. Napolitano holding, and concluded that the settlement agreement, in…

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the district court has no discretion to offset an EAJA award of attorney's fees with a future 42 U.S.C. Sec. 406 (a) award of attornye's fees by the Commissioner of Social Security. EAJA fees paid for work performed before federal courts and fees…

An overview of Attorney's Fees in Civil Rights Litigation, 42 U.S.C. §§1983, 1988.  Also, a listing of selected Massachusetts cases governing attorneys fees awards, as well as lists of both Massachusetts and Federal statutes allowing/mandating attorneys fees to prevailing parties.…

Judget Gertner found that a party can be deemed "prevailing" when it obtains a preliminary injunction upon a clear showing of likelihood of success on the merits, when the case is then mooted because the preliminary injunction gave plaintiff everything it needed.…