Fifth Circuit Affirms Judge Wingate in Jackson Firefighters Sexual Harrassment Case Attorney Fee Dispute
Readers of this post from Tuesday who wonder how the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals analyzes appeals of attorney fee awards have a recent 5th Circuit decision that provides insight on this question.
In this March 2011 post I wrote about U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate awarding 21% of the requested attorney's fees and expenses in the City of Jackson Fire Department sexual harassment case. Here is a 2009 post on the case. This was the case where one of the plaintiffs testified that her monthly car note was paid “supernaturally” “by the grace of God.” Thank you, Jesus.
Last week the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Judge Wingate's decision, which the plaintiffs had appealed. Here is the 5th Circuit's per curiam opinion.
The Court reviewed Judge Wingate's decision under an abuse of discretion standard and found no abuse of discretion. Judge Wingate substantially reduced the plaintiff's request due to duplicative and massive billings by the plaintiff's D.C. lawyers. Two lawyers billed a combined 2700 hours on the case and six other lawyers from the firm billed time to the case. Judge Wingate found that to be excessive. The total fee and expense award affirmed on appeal was $263,901.78.
