Do not hire a battalion of preeminent ninja warriors to pound the hell out of a weak two-bit chiseler and then expect a ticker-tape parade, a celebration, or reimbursement for your out-of-whack costs after the decisive victory. At least not from U.S. District Court Judge Patrick J. Schiltz (D. Minn.).
Judge Schiltz took the red pen to the the attorneys’ fee petition of Plaintiff Commercial Behemoth Walman Optical in its meritorious claim against Quest Optical, a feeble unsuccessful competitor of Walman’s.
Judge Schiltz had high praise for the Minneapolis big firm partners who cornered and hammered the wrong-doing defendant, Quest Optical, taking Quest Optical to task for violating an injunction on its sale of infringing scratch-resistant eye-glass coating material.
On the other hand, Judge Schiltz made it quite clear that using a howitzer to take out an elderly hobbled late summer moth does not make sense to him and he won’t endorse what he thought of as over-kill by awarding the fees which, he said, “flabbergasted” him.
Reminds me of a small law firm pitch I’ve seen somewhere….”Minnesota businesses and individuals do not need a legion of lawyers for every commercial or business dispute. For most legal disputes, you need one good lawyer and you should get the best you can find.”
There will always be a place for large law firms in the market for legal services but there are also a great many matters where a more modest (and affordable) provider of legal services might make a great deal of cents.