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Lawyers Could See Record Payday

An Iowa court is expected to rule today on whether to approve two attorneys' request for $75 million in fees and costs for a class action lawsuit they brought against Microsoft Corp. According to an Associated Press report, the award, if approved, would be a record for the state. The fee request comes from lawyers Roxanne Conlin of Des Moines and Richard M. Hagstrom of Minneapolis, who settled the case in April for $179.95 million, but not before three trips to the Iowa Supreme Court and some seven years of litigation. In their motion asking to the court to approve the fees, the lawyers say they are warranted by  "the complexity and difficulty of the case and the excellent result obtained."

According to AP, eight Iowans have filed letters with the court opposing the fee request. "How in the name of all that is sacred can you even imagine that to be equitable?" one wrote. Another called the request "an obscene amount of money to pay to Roxanne Conlin for bothering the court with this witch hunt." Conlin points out that the request includes $8 million the attorneys have spent in costs and more than 117,000 hours of work over seven years.

Meanwhile, Conlin and attorneys from Hagstrom's firm Zelle, Hofmann, Voelbel, Mason & Gette have already won approval of $48 million in attorney fees for a similar class action in Minnesota. And Hagstrom is asking for another $24 million in fees in a related lawsuit against Microsoft in Wisconsin.

Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on August 31, 2007 at 03:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Comments

I can't get past the 117,000 hours of work. Far beyond billable hours, this must have included portal to portal travel time to pick up nose spray for Aunt Harriet, restaurant tips, and janitorial services, plus every other insignificant thing which could possibly have a money tag added to it.

No wonder the public is so deeply skeptical of these class actions and their wildly-out-of-proportion fee claims.

Posted by: Jack Payne | Aug 31, 2007 5:35:21 PM

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