Latham, Northwestern seek fees from conservative group in bias case
March 27 (Reuters) - (Billable Hours is Reuters' weekly report on lawyers and money. Please send tips or suggestions to D.Thomas@thomsonreuters.com, opens new tab)
Northwestern University and its lawyers at Latham & Watkins have asked a judge to award them attorney fees after a conservative group dropped its lawsuit over Northwestern law school's hiring practices and refiled a new one minutes later.
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Northwestern said in a Tuesday court filing, opens new tab that the "procedural gymnastics" by Faculty, Alumni, & Students Opposed to Racial Preferences (FASORP) violated a federal rule against "such manipulative tactics." FASORP is represented by prominent conservative attorney Jonathan Mitchell and by America First Legal, which was founded by Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump.
FASORP sued Northwestern in July, claiming its law school discriminates against white men in faculty hiring and in the selection of articles that appear in its flagship law review. FASORP dismissed, opens new tab its own lawsuit on January 31, and then refiled it minutes later, opens new tab on February 1, according to Northwestern.
"FASORP's continued gamesmanship to pursue that effort should not continue unless and until it reimburses Defendants for their costs and fees -- which are but a fraction of the toll that this unwarranted litigation has imposed," Northwestern said.
A spokesperson for Northwestern did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mitchell and FASORP's other lawyers did not immediately respond to similar requests.
The university's filing accused FASORP of trying to dodge a potentially adverse ruling on its bid to add a Title VII claim to its original lawsuit. A hearing on the matter was scheduled for February 5, before FASORP dismissed its original suit on January 31. FASORP's February 1 lawsuit includes a Title VII claim.
Northwestern did not specify how much in fees it is seeking, but the school said it wants to be reimbursed for its work in litigating FASORP's bid to amend its complaint, and for its motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which was also pending.
The Evanston, Illinois-based school accused FASORP of trying to "malign five Black professors at Northwestern as unworthy of their appointments to the law faculty," while also targeting certain faculty members and students.
-- A federal judge in San Francisco on Wednesday sanctioned, opens new tab a Houston-based patent lawyer known for filing hundreds of lawsuits a year for his failure to follow court rules for out-of-state attorneys.
William Ramey and two lawyers at his law firm, Ramey LLP, were ordered to pay $64,121 after U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Kang found that Ramey and his colleagues "repeatedly and knowingly" broke rules governing admissions for non-local lawyers.
Kang, in a 44-page order, said Ramey and his firm have a "long history of repeated instances of rules violations and noncompliance." Kang said he has found at least 56 civil lawsuits where Ramey appeared as a lawyer on the case as an out-of-state attorney, but he filed a pro hac vice application in just 10 of those cases.
"It is clear that the conduct at issue in this case is not due to excusable neglect or oversight," Kang said.
Ramey did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The sanctions came in a patent infringement case Ramey's client, Koji IP, filed against the American branch of semiconductor manufacturer Renesas Electronics. Koji voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit against Renesas less than a month after it was filed. Kang noted that Ramey and Koji filed — and voluntarily dismissed — two earlier lawsuits against Renesas.
A spokesperson for Renesas declined to comment.
-- Lawyers who secured more than $319 million in cash settlements for some 200,000 current and former students suing 17 major U.S. colleges over financial aid said they have invested nearly 128,000 hours into the antitrust litigation. Litigation continues against five schools.
Attorneys from three firms — Gilbert Litigators & Counselors; Berger Montague and Freedman Normand Friedland — this week asked a U.S. judge, opens new tab in Chicago to approve an additional $11.75 million in fees for their work, which would push their total compensation so far above $106 million.
-- Plaintiffs lawyers at The Rosen Law Firm and Glancy Prongay said they will ask a U.S. judge to award them up to $6.7 million in fees from a $20 million securities class action settlement with Live Nation.
The entertainment giant agreed to settle a shareholder lawsuit accusing it of making misleading statements about industry competition and compliance with antitrust laws, artificially boosting its stock price. Live Nation denied any wrongdoing.
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