Flat Fee Arrangements Proposed by Municipality as a Fix to Overbilling

Posted by Daniel Engoren at 10:25 am Alternative Fee Arrangements, Overbilling No Responses »
May 162012

State and municipal budget problems have been well documented over the last few years.  The last thing counties need are inflated legal bills. But that’s exactly what happened to Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.  According to the Times Leader, Luzerne County spent $334,000 on legal costs for parents in Children and Youth cases last year, more than twice their $125,000 budget.

A Times Leader investigation revealed that the high bills were at least in part due to improper attorney billing practices, including one lawyer who doubled billed the county for travel time. After being approached by a reporter, the offending attorney admitted her mistake, alerted the county, and hired a forensic accountant to audit her records. The audit revealed that the county had been overcharged by $59,042, largely due to the burden of a heavy case load and errors in the way bills were processed. Continue reading »

Legal Costs Create Bar to Bankruptcy for Nation’s Poorest

Posted by Erin Sussman at 11:28 am Bankruptcy No Responses »
May 092012

It’s that time of year again when many Americans receive their federal tax rebates in the mail, but an estimated 200,000 will be breathing a sigh of relief for a quite unexpected reason – their tax rebate will provide them with enough money to file for bankruptcy.  A recent joint study from the University of Chicago and Columbia University reported a dramatic spike in bankruptcy filings in previous years right after people received their tax returns.  According to CNN Money, the average cost of a Chapter 7 proceeding is over $1500; a price that many individuals, couples and businesses cannot afford. Continue reading »

Guaranteed Fixed-Fee Divorces for Britain’s Wealthy Couples

Posted by Erin Sussman at 3:31 pm Alternative Fee Arrangements, Divorce No Responses »
May 082012

In a business model somewhat foreign to attorneys here in the United States, Riverview Law, a corporate services firm specializing in fixed-fee billing, has rolled out a new divorce service with fixed-fee packages to minimize the unexpected legal costs of divorce. However – one aspect that should be familiar to stateside lawyers is that the top quality legal service supplied in this situation is unavailable to those without the means to afford it. The Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch reports that the service will include access to the nation’s best divorce attorneys at guaranteed prices; but only if your assets are worth an excess of £500,000.

Continue reading »

Netflix Class Action Settlement Results in Class Members Irate Over Attorneys’ Fees

Posted by Erin Sussman at 11:24 am Court Decisions No Responses »
May 032012

Members of a class of Netflix subscribers are so unhappy with the settlement result reached in an antitrust suit regarding Netflix’s marketing agreement with Wal-Mart that they have asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to overturn it.  The settlement in the amount of $27.2 million gives plaintiffs’ lawyers over $8 million in legal fees; an amount the class members argue is in violation of federal law that requires the terms to be in the best interest of the class.  Continue reading »

New Mexico Court of Appeals Orders Recalculation of Legal Fees in Public Records Case

Posted by Maria Miglino at 10:26 am Court Decisions No Responses »
May 022012

The Albuquerque Journal is reporting that New Mexico’s Court of Appeals recently ordered a District Judge to recalculate the legal fees and costs sustained by a local newspaper in a public records case.  The Rio Grande Sun and one of its reporters brought a lawsuit against the Jemez Mountain School District requesting they make available certain public records associated with embezzlement at the school.  Continue reading »

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