A recent Legal Times story, “Animal Rights Group Oppose $25M Fee Request in Circus Litigation,” reports that lawyers for animal rights group that unsuccessfully sued the producer of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus called the producer’s petition for $25 million in legal fees “ridiculous” and “unconscionable” in court papers this week.  The fee request is one of the largest ever in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, according to the petition filed in October by circus producer Feld Entertainment Inc.  Feld’s lawyers, led by John Simpson of Norton Rose Fulbright, said the money was justified given the length and complexity of the case.

This week, lawyers for the animal rights groups accused Feld’s legal team of inflating bills, failing to “exercise sound billing judgment,” and overstaffing.  They bristled at the number of lawyers and nonlawyers professionals who worked on the case for Feld, including more than 100 from Norton Rose alone (lawyers in the case were Fulbright & Jaworski, which merged with Norton Rose last year.)

“Counterintuitively, while [Feld’s] counsel managed to employ a staggering number of timekeepers on this case, they also failed to delegate work from the most expensive senior attorneys to cheaper associates and nonlawyer staff,” the animal rights groups said.  The animal rights groups also contend that the $25 million fee award would be financially devastating.

Animal rights organizations brought claims against Feld more than a decade ago alleging abuses of the circus’ Asian elephants.  U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan entered a judgment against the animal rights groups in 2009 and granted Feld’s request for legal fees last year.  Lawyers for the animal rights groups argued a fee award of less than $2 million would accomplish the goal of the fee-shifting law in these types of cases—to deter frivolous claims—without “ruinous consequences.”

Simpson defended the fee request.  "This case was staffed and billed appropriately given the Court’s findings that the case was frivolous, unreasonable and vexatious from inception,” he said in an email.  “This kind of abuse of the system can be very expensive.”

Norton Rose reported billing more than 41,000 hours of litigation since late 2005 valued at $22.6 million.  Three other law firms worked on Feld’s defense.  Covington & Burling, Troutman Sanders and Hughes Hubbard & Reed.  Covington billed nearly 6,000 hours valued at $2.3 million for work from 2000 to 2006.  Troutman billed approximately 1,300 hours valued at more than $273,000 for work in 2008 and 2009, and Hughes Hubbard billed 17.5 hours valued at around $11,700 for work in 2007 and 2008.

NALFA also reported on this case in “Defense Lawyers Seek $25M in Fees in Circus Litigation”