A recent Law 360 story by James Boyle, “Pa. Attys Get $400K in Fees For $1.2M Retaliation Award,” reports that a team led by lawyers from Pittsburgh-based O'Brien Coleman & Wright LLC received more than $418,000 in attorney fees and costs after securing a $1.2 million jury verdict for a former guard who sued a Pennsylvania jail for wrongful termination, a court document shows.
The five-person team, including an O'Brien Coleman paralegal and an associate from another firm, received $403,455 in attorney fees and $15,241.67 in costs for representing Jeffrey Kengerski, according to an order published by U.S. Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan of the Western District of Pennsylvania. Allegheny County, the defendant in the discrimination case, did not file an opposition to the plaintiff's motion for attorney fees.
Judge Ranjan said the district court reviewed the case and the community rate for attorneys in Pittsburgh and adjusted the award where it deemed appropriate. The total amount presented by the plaintiff's motion was reduced by $3,560 when the judge determined that one of the attorneys was not present for about nine hours of the four-day trial. The judge also awarded attorney fees to Kengerski for his successful appeal to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals after the case was originally dismissed by Judge Ranjan.
The amount awarded to each member of Kengerski's legal team is not specified in Judge Ranjan's order, but each rate is detailed. Partners Timothy P. O'Brien, Margaret S. Coleman and Alec B. Wright have been compensated at $700, $500 and $400 per hour, respectively. Heather McDonald, a paralegal at O'Brien Coleman, received $150 per hour, and Tamra Van Housen, an associate with Elzer Law Firm LLC, earned $200 per hour.
Kengerski filed affidavits showing the requested rates were comparable to the rates charged by other attorneys in Pittsburgh, Judge Ranjan wrote in his order, and they are below the fee schedule used by Community Legal Services. A federal jury awarded Kengerski a total $1.2 million in October after a trial in Pittsburgh. The award includes $930,528.97 in compensatory damages, back pay and five years of pay based on lost wages.