11TH CIRCUIT ADDRESSES ATTORNEY FEES IN FLSA DISPUTE
On March 9, 2009, the 11th Circuit decided the case of Sahyers v. Prugh, Holliday & Karatinos, and this week, the 11th Circuit denied a request for rehearing en banc. In the Sahyers case, Ms. Sahyers worked as a paralegal for the Prugh law firm. After she left the firm, she retained a lawyer and sued alleging she was not paid overtime for working more than 40 hours a week. Before filing suit, no written demand was made seeking a resolution of the dispute, and her lawyer made no attempt to inform the defendants of the claim. During the course of litigation, although disputed, a settlement demand was made for either $35,000 or $25,000. After discovery was completed, Prugh tendered an offer of judgment for $3,500, plus any attorney's fees and costs awarded by the court. Prugh accepted the offer, and applied for attorney's fees and costs. The trial court scheduled oral argument on its own, and Sahyers's lawyer admitted that there was no notice of the claim made to Prugh before the lawsuit was filed, and did so at the direction of his client. The trial court concluded that Sahyers had prevailed on the case, but found that "there are some cases in which a reasonable fee is no fee" and did not award Sayhers attorney's fees or costs. On appeal, the 11th Circuit affirmed the trial court's decision, finding that "Defendants are lawyers and their law firm. And the lawyer for Plaintiff made absolutely no effort-no phone call; no email; no letter-to inform them of Plaintiff's impending claim much less to resolve this dispute before filing suit. Plaintiff's lawyer slavishly followed his client's instructions and without a word to Defendants in advance-just sued his fellow lawyers. As the district court saw it, this conscious disregard for lawyer-to-lawyer collegiality and civility caused...the judiciary to waste significant time and resources on unnecessary litigation and stood in stark contrast to the behavior expected of an officer of the court."
Practice pointer. As I have blogged about before, there are many cases being filed in the Federal Courts throughout Alabama making claims for overtime under the FLSA. Many of these claims are nominal ones, such as in Prugh, which settled for $3,500. Yet many of the plaintiff's attorneys do not notify the defendants until the lawsuit is filed, while seeking attorney's fees. Perhaps if the logic of the Sahyers' decision was followed in cases that did not involve claims against law firms, many of the FLSA cases would be resolved quicker, without the necessity of filing a lawsuit and wasting a great deal of time and resources of the courts.
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