Lions Feast on Crow? A Revised and Reduced Petition for Award of Attorneys’ Fees

A few steps down memory lane to December, 2013 brings us to the Minnesota Litigator post about a well-known Minneapolis St. Paul lawyer who noted to a court that he billed 3.04 hours for “reviewing an email regarding dislike for him and the lawsuit and researching how to respond.” This was in the context of a petition for award of attorneys’ fees for $65,000 for a settled class action that he represented plaintiffs in.

U.S. District Court Judge Joan N. Ericksen (D. Minn.) torpedo’d the motion for $65,000 in legal fees. In short, she suggested that we wait a while and just get a feel for the size of the benefit the plaintiffs’ counsel ultimately recovered for their class. How many people got and used the vouchers at the St. James Hotel, Veranda, Clara’s Gift Shop, Jimmy’s Pub, Port Restaurant, and Shoe Box Café recovered as a result of the Red Wing fixtures’ alleged failure to comply with the Electronic Funds Transfer Act?

Forty-one vouchers were redeemed for a total value to the class members of $4,249.83 (see brief at p. 4).

And what did plaintiffs’ counsel end up being awarded for the $4,249.83? The court awarded fees of $27,722.86.