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Lord brings fees issue in Johnson class action to 9th Circuit
Betty Johnson’s California-based counsel, Timothy Lord, is appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit the federal court’s denial of his attorney’s fees and costs.
Lord wants the Ninth Circuit to reverse U.S. District Court for the NMI designated judge Frances M. Tydingco-Gatewood order on Dec. 9, 2014, denying his petition for attorney’s fees and costs.
Lord has notified the District Court last week about his appeal to the Ninth Circuit. He did not provide other information in the notice.
In the Dec. 9 order, Tydingco-Gatewood approved the CNMI agreement to pay $800,000 in attorney’s fees and costs to Betty Johnson’s original counsel, Bruce Jorgensen.
In a separate order that same day, Tydingco-Gatewood denied awarding fees to Johnson’s other counsel, Lord.
Tydingco-Gatewood said having considered the CNMI government’s and Jorgensen’s stipulated motion for approval of Jorgensen’s fees, as well as all arguments and submissions, she finds the settlement agreement to be fair and reasonable.
The judge said the settlement agreement was reached after the parties in Johnson’s class action participated in settlement talks with Hawaii chief bankruptcy judge Robert J. Faris.
With respect to Lord’s petition for fees and costs, Tydingco-Gatewood said that Lord has not shown that his work produced a concrete beneficial result for the class.
Tydingco-Gatewoood, however, stated that she is disappointed that Jorgensen did not include the work performed by Lord or his paralegal in his original fee petition or in his settlement discussions with the CNMI government, especially since it was he who sought Lord’s assistance during the initial stages of the litigation.
The judge said for reasons not completely clear to the court, Jorgensen and Lord parted ways on less than amicable terms.
Lord’s initial demand for payment was either $3.6 million or $5.9 million. The CNMI government opposed granting fees to Lord.
Tydingco-Gatewood had already approved the payment for Johnson’s other counsels, Bronster Hoshibata law firm in the amount of $6.5 million and Stephen Woodruff in the amount of $185,000.
