Winning in court docket and making your opponent pay the lawyer charges is one hell of an “I told you so” — and that goes double while you get to stay it to a state alongside the way in which. Unfortunately for our plaintiffs, Florida isn’t recognized for taking losses gracefully — particularly not a six-figure one. The Sunshine State’s lack of enthusiasm for protecting the tab might have spillover results for future litigants. From Reuters:
Florida is difficult a decide’s ruling that the state should cowl authorized charges for University of Florida professors who sued the state, giving a U.S. appeals court docket a brand new likelihood to evaluate how courts ought to decide when shedding adversaries should pay for his or her opponents’ attorneys.
Attorneys for Florida in a court docket submitting on Tuesday mentioned they intend to ask the eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to weigh the appropriateness and the dimensions of the $372,000 award that was granted final week.
The motive for such a excessive price ticket? Plaintiffs employed Debevoise & Plimpton to litigate their case. And regardless that the worth was discounted, billing $450 an hour for about 1400 hours provides as much as a bigger tab than Florida was anticipating. That’s what they get for not letting professors testify as knowledgeable witnesses — that’s positively some aspect revenue value combating for!
If you’d prefer to observe up on developments on this case, you will discover them beneath Sharon Wright Austin et al v. University of Florida Board of Trustees et al, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, No. 1:21-cv-00184-MW-HTC.
Florida Appeals $372K Legal-Fee Award To Profs Who Sued State [Reuters]
Chris Williams grew to become a social media supervisor and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to becoming a member of the workers, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ within the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri lengthy sufficient to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who can’t swim, a printed creator on important race idea, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for biking that sometimes annoys his friends. You can attain him by e-mail at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
