A recent Law.com story, “9^th Circuit Lifts Attorney Sanctions in FedEx Discrimination Case” reports that U.S. District Judge Susan Illston fined San Francisco plaintiffs lawyer Waukee McCoy $25,000 in sanctions in connection with fee petitions he submitted after winning discrimination verdicts against FedEx.  Illston turned down McCoy’s $2 million attorney fee request, calling his behavior “among the most egregious that this court has ever seen in almost 14 years on the bench.”  A 9^th Circuit panel found Illston was correct in denying McCoy’s attorney fee petitions, but she did not give McCoy a proper chance to defend himself.

The attorney fee dispute began after McCoy won jury verdicts against FedEx for workplace discrimination.  Illston appointed a special fee master to deal with the fee issues and FedEx accused McCoy of fabricating many of his hourly estimates.  McCoy got into deeper trouble with the special fee master, and Illston, after he failed to produce contemporaneous time records he had been ordered to turn over.  In addition, Illston found that the vast majority of McCoy’s fee petitions were not actually based on such time records, contrary to what McCoy had repeatedly represented in sworn declarations.  However, the 9^th Circuit also ruled that Illston was wrong to bar McCoy from resubmitting correct attorney fee applications.  “We note that in deciding whether to deny McCoy permission to refile a request for attorney’s fees, the district court may wish to consider the possible effect of such a denial on McCoy’s clients,” the panel wrote.  “It is possible that if McCoy is unable to collect statutory attorney’s fees from FedEx he may be able to collect contractual attorney’s fees from the clients.  In that event, it would be the clients rather than McCoy who would suffer the adverse consequences of McCoy’s misconduct in seeking fees.”