A recent BLT Blog post, “Judge Awards $434K in Fees in Iranian Dairy Dispute,” reports that a Washington federal judge approved $434,000 in attorney fees to Winston & Strawn for its work in the past year in a decade-long legal fight over interests in an Iranian dairy. The fees aren’t a sure thing yet, though. Iran said it plans to appeal.
Plaintiff McKesson Corp. sued the Islamic Republic of Iranian in 1982, claiming that it had expropriated McKesson's equity interest in an Iranian dairy after the 1979 revolution and failed to pay its dividends. The case has gone up to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit as least half a dozen times, and is pending again before the appeals court following a March judgment against Iran for $40.5 million.
Iran appealed that order, which included $10 million in attorney fees for work performed by McKesson’s lawyers from 2000 to 2012. The order from U.S. District Judge Richard Leon covered McKesson’s legal fees from mid-2012 through April of this year. “Iran is planning to appeal the latest order, just as it appealed the prior fee awards,” Iran’s attorney, Christopher Wright of Wiltshire & Grannis, said in an email.
According to the order, Winston charged for 716 hours of lawyer time and 32 hours of paralegal time spent on the case from July 2012 through April 2013. Associate Eric Goldstein billed the most time on the case during that period, according to information (pdf) the firm submitted to the court: 386 hours. His hourly rate went up from $460 in 2012 to $525 this year.
Iran has challenged McKesson’s claims for attorney fees in the past, arguing the court didn’t have jurisdiction to issue them and questioning the reasonableness of the rates charged by Winston and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, which is also involved. From 2000 to 2012, McKesson said its lawyers billed more than 18,500 hours.
Leon previously found that Iranian law allowed for the award of attorney fees, and that the rates charged by McKesson’s lawyers were reasonable. In his opinion, he found the rates were reasonable given the lawyers’ experience and skill level, “the tasks performed were appropriate and necessary, and the case was efficiently staffed,” Leon also awarded $17,000 in costs.