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Asbestos Defendant Seeks $1M in Legal Fees in Fraud Case

December 2, 2010 | Posted in : Billing Practices, Defense Fees / Costs, Fees as Sanctions

A recent Legal Newsline.com story, “Asbestos Defendant Seeks $1M in Legal Fees in Fraud Case” reports that two attorneys found to have committed fraud during asbestos litigation may be on the hook for nearly $1 million in legal fees incurred by the company that fought them.  Attorneys William Guy and Thomas Brock have already been ordered to return $210,000 in settlements and give another $210,000 in punitive damages to Illinois Central Railroad, which filed a fraud lawsuit against the two in November 2006.

U.S. District Court Judge David Bramlette ordered an accounting of attorney fees from both sides after Illinois Central had moved to have its fees paid by Guy and Brock.  “Though it submitted lengthy billing records documenting individual billing entries for each timekeeper during that period reflect only the total dollar amounts billed per month but not the total hours,” Bramlette wrote.  “In other words, the Court is unable to determine, without performing tedious calculation, the number of attorney and paralegal hours for which Illinois Central now seeks to be reimbursed.”  Bramlette says, according to state law, the most useful starting point is determining if the amount of hours worked by the attorneys and if the per-hour fees charged were reasonable.

Illinois Central is being represented by Daniel Mulholland of Forman Perry Watkins Krutz & Tardy in Jackson, Mississippi in this case.