A recent Law 360 story by Max Kutner, “8^th Circ. Axes $1 Atty Fee Award in FLSA Case”, reports that counsel for workers who settled overtime claims against a pipe manufacturer are set to get more attorney fees after the Eighth Circuit ruled that an Arkansas federal court's award of a single dollar was wrong, finding the judge hadn't made the required calculations.  In its opinion, a split three-judge panel vacated the fees award and remanded the Fair Labor Standards Act case against Welspun Pipes Inc. and related entities, saying that regardless of any concerns about attorney conduct, the lower court hadn't done necessary calculations when slashing the requested $96,000 to $1.

The lower court hadn't calculated the lodestar, which is the number of hours counsel worked times the prevailing hourly rate, the majority said.  The lower court had properly determined the prevailing rate at the attorneys' firm, but it hadn't multiplied the rate by the reasonable number of hours worked, the judges said.  "Without any reference to the lodestar amount, the district court said it awarded $1 because it could not award any less," the majority said.  "Without a supporting rationale based on the lodestar calculation and reduction, this was [an] error."

Under circuit precedent, a district court must calculate the lodestar in an FLSA settlement, the majority said.  When the lodestar is determined, "it is unlikely that a $1 attorneys' fee is reasonable," given that the counsel obtained a nearly $270,000 payout for the workers, the judges said.  Even the $25,000 fee award the lower court said it would approve if the $1 amount was shot down on appeal was not based on a lodestar calculation, the majority said.  The opinion added that any reduction to the award because of a party's conduct should come after the court determines the lodestar.

But the majority pushed back against the workers' argument that the district judge had also wrongly denied an earlier settlement motion on the grounds that the parties had not negotiated the wage claim settlement and attorney fees separately.  The lower court had said circuit precedent required the separate negotiations.  "There is sufficient evidence in the record for the district court to have determined that the wage claim and the attorneys' fees were not separately negotiated," the majority said.  The opinion cited emails showing the parties at certain points discussed the amounts as a single lump sum, among other factors.

The panel also denied the workers' request to reassign the district judge, saying they hadn't shown the judge was incapable of determining appropriate attorney fees due to a clear bias against them.  In a dissenting opinion, U.S. Circuit Judge Steven M. Colloton said the lower court had been right to issue the $1 award due to attorney conduct when negotiating the wage claim amount and the fee amount.  The focus on the lodestar issue is "misplaced," Judge Colloton said. "The whole point of the district courts' order is that the lodestar amount of fees was immaterial on this record, because counsel's egregious conduct warranted an award of a de minimis fee, if any at all."

The dispute stems from a proposed class and collective action that workers Anthony Vines and Dominique Lewis filed in August 2018.  They alleged that Welspun shorted manufacturing plant workers on overtime pay by not factoring bonuses and other incentives into the rate calculations, in violation of the FLSA and Arkansas law.  The two sides reached a settlement in which Welspun agreed to pay $211,666 to an initial class and an additional amount to a subsequent class.  The company also agreed to pay Sanford Law Firm $89,000 in fees and costs for the first class and an additional fee for the second class.

But in September 2019, the district judge partly denied the request, saying the court couldn't determine whether the deal was reasonable because information was missing.  In March 2020, the parties filed a new agreement, under which the first class would still get $211,666, the second class would get $57,673 and counsel would get $96,000 in fees and costs.  But the judge again denied the request, saying that the parties had failed to negotiate the wage claim and attorney fees separately.  Then that May, the two sides asked for final approval for only the wage claim, and the judge granted it.

The parties then asked for the $96,000 in attorney fees.  But in June 2020, the judge awarded just $1, citing the firm's "incorrigible" billing practices, such as "random increases" in hourly rates and rates that seemed "arbitrary and … unreliable."