Mar. 26—The city of Lincoln is fighting a request for $1.6 million in attorney fees being sought in the case of a former Lincoln firefighter who settled her discrimination lawsuit in January.
In a brief last week, Omaha attorney Heidi Guttau, who was retained by city officials to represent them in Amanda Benson's lawsuit, alleged attorney Kelly Brandon intentionally maximized the firm's time litigating the case in order to drive up fees.
Guttau asked the federal judge to reduce it to, at most, $325,000 for attorney fees, plus $46,970 for costs and expenses, for a total of no more than $371,970.
The legal back-and-forth follows the city's agreement in January to pay Benson $650,000 to settle the lawsuit she filed in U.S. District Court in 2018, alleging the city ignored complaints she filed about a hostile work environment at Lincoln Fire and Rescue, exonerated employees who contributed to it and didn't take steps to fix the problems.
The amount represented $600,000 for emotional distress and $50,000 in wages.
A month later, Brandon, Benson's attorney, submitted her request for $1,672,281 in attorney fees, plus $143,000 in out-of-pocket costs along with a brief saying the agreement had followed nearly five years of "hotly contested litigation, with both sides vigorously representing the interests of their clients."
Brandon said the city mounted an unusually zealous defense, steadfastly refusing to accept any responsibility for its actions and filing multiple motions in "an effort to evade liability."
"It would be an understatement to say that this case was heavily litigated," she said.
Brandon said attorneys who prosecute important and challenging employment cases like this one are entitled to be paid in full for their efforts, and she went on to name nine attorneys with the Fiedler Law Firm who worked on the case with her.
She said that several times during the pendency of this case, the firm stopped taking on new cases because it was too busy and had to use a line of credit to pay its bills.
On the other side, in addition to seven in-house attorneys with the Lincoln City Attorney's Office, the city also paid outside counsel from Baird Holm.
Brandon said: "The people's elected representatives have decided that those who violate citizens' civil rights should pay for the legal services required to remedy the violations."
And both sides agreed Benson was the prevailing party, entitling her to reasonable attorney fees.
In a 48-page brief opposing the petition for attorney fees and costs, Guttau pointed out that the request was more than two-and-a-half times the amount of the settlement, saying the "disproportionate number" results from exorbitantly high billing rates to the tune of $600 and $425 per hour for the two lead attorneys.
She said the defendants' lead counsel charged $300 per hour, below the $350 per hour the court has found to be at the top of the regional legal market for employment litigation.
"The billing records themselves reveal a host of other problems," Guttau said, pointing to thousands in fees related to a preliminary injunction, which the court denied among other issues.
The city proposed $325,000 — half of the parties' settlement amount — in attorney fees instead.
"First, it reflects the lack of success, or at most modest success, of plaintiff's settlement," Guttau wrote. "Second, it reflects the many flaws in counsel's billing entries."
She said that while Benson may be the prevailing party for purposes of the fee application, she arguably would have been better off financially had she accepted the city's offer of judgment of $300,000 made in July 2019.
The federal judge has yet to rule on the matter.
Benson's 2018 lawsuit followed two others by then-Capts. Brian Giles and Troy Hurd, alleging they faced retaliation for reporting harassment of female firefighters.
In 2019, a federal jury awarded Hurd $1.1 million. The judgment later was reduced by a judge, and the city agreed to pay Hurd $600,000 to avoid a second trial.
In 2020, the city agreed to pay Giles $280,000 to settle his lawsuit.
___
(c)2024 Lincoln Journal Star, Neb.
Visit Lincoln Journal Star, Neb. at www.journalstar.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
