A recent Law 360 story by Emma Cueto, “Blake Rome, Andrus Wagstaff Clash Over Pelvic Mesh Fees,” reports that Blank Rome LLP and Andrus Wagstaff PC are bashing each other's attempts to secure an early win in a suit claiming that Andrus Wagstaff stiffed Blank Rome out of nearly half a million dollars in fees related to multidistrict litigation concerning allegedly defective pelvic mesh implants.  Andrus Wagstaff argued in its response that under the contract Blank Rome, which was hired to secure a greater fee award for the Colorado-headquartered firm in the underlying pelvic mesh suit, was not entitled to a 10% cut of all the fees it secured, but rather only entitled to a series of tiered percentages, with the 10% rate only applying to the fees above $4 million.

"As a matter of law, the contract is not clear and unambiguous in a way that supports Blank Rome's reading," Andrus Wagstaff said in its response to Blank Rome's motion for summary judgment.  Blank Rome, however, said in its response to Andrus Wagstaff's own summary judgment bid that this was a "tortured interpretation" of the contract between the two firms and was not supported by the text of the document.  Under the contract, Blank Rome argued, it was clearly entitled to a 10% cut if it was able to raise the Colorado firm's award by over $4 million.

"In order to interpret the incentive fee provision in the manner suggested by AW, this court would have to insert new, additional language into the agreement and disregard the actual language to which the parties agreed," Blank Rome said.  Blank Rome filed suit against Andrus Wagstaff in December, saying it was hired to help increase the amount of attorney fees the firm was awarded for its work on the MDL that accused Boston Scientific Corp. of making defective pelvic mesh implants.

According to the lawsuit, a court-appointed committee had initially recommended setting aside $8,715,000 in attorney fees for Andrus Wagstaff. Blank Rome claims its work helped raise Andrus Wagstaff's take to a total of $13 million.  Blank Rome said it therefore boosted Andrus Wagstaff's fees by $4,895,000, which should entitle Blank Rome to a $489,500 incentive fee pursuant to the agreement.  But according to the suit, Andrus Wagstaff hasn't lived up to its promise.  Andrus Wagstaff, meanwhile, has argued that Blank Rome is misinterpreting the contract, and that it is actually owed only $269,500.