The attorneys representing a plaintiff who settled a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case for $10,000 have submitted a motion seeking nearly three times that amount in legal fees, saying they collectively worked nearly 60 hours on the case and should be awarded $450 per hour.
The Background: The plaintiff filed suit in August 2022, alleging the defendant filed a collection lawsuit to recover a medical debt that the plaintiff did not owe and which had been paid by insurance. Even though the plaintiff had notified the defendant that she did not owe the debt, the defendant froze the plaintiff’s assets, leaving her with no money in her accounts that she could use to buy basic necessities.
Last month, the two sides agreed to settle with the defendant paying $10,000 in damages and covering the plaintiff’s attorney’s fees and costs.
The Motion: While admitting that the claim was “relatively simple and straightforward,” the plaintiff’s attorneys wrote that a “significant amount of litigation and attorney involvement was required.” The attorneys submitted a detailed billing statement covering their involvement in the case. Both attorneys, they note, have been awarded the $450 hourly rate by other judges in recent cases.
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