Judge slashes $185 mln award for law firm Quinn Emanuel in US healthcare case
By Mike Scarcella
Oct 10 (Reuters) -A U.S. judge in Washington, D.C., on Thursday cut in half a $185 million legal fee payout for Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, awarding the law firm $92.4 million for its work on a multibillion-dollar federal healthcare insurance case.
Judge Kathryn Davis of the U.S. Federal Claims Court said the reduced amount was a reasonable reward for Quinn Emanuel, a top U.S. business litigation firm.
Quinn was awarded $185 million for its work on the case in 2021,but a federal appeals court last year struck down the award as excessive and ordered Davis to reconsider it.
Davis on Thursday found the 900-lawyer firm's hours were "improperly inflated and must be reduced."
Quinn Emanuel had urged the judge at a hearing in July to again approve the firm’s $185 million fee. A group of health insurers led by UnitedHealthcare and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan opposed the fee amount, calling it “astronomical.”
Quinn Emanuel, UnitedHealthcare and Kaiser did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In the underlying case, Quinn Emanuel secured a $3.7 billion judgment in 2020 for a class of insurers that said the Obama administration failed to meet its obligations under an Obamacare provision aimed at encouraging medical coverage to uninsured Americans.
The $185 million fee amounted to 5% of the judgment fund. Quinn Emanuel had defended the award as justified based on the novelty of the case and the risk the firm took in pursuing the litigation. The firm said it had sunk about 10,000 hours into the litigation.
UnitedHealthcare and Kaiser told Davis that the request translated to more than $18,000 an hour for Quinn Emanuel. Top partners at the Los Angeles-founded firm often bill between $1,500 and $2,000 an hour, court records show.
A lawyer for the insurers, Moe Keshavarzi of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, had urged Davis to approve a fee award no larger than about $11 million to $23 million.
Davis said the objectors' proposed fee was "so low as to disincentivize attorneys from pursuing class actions."
The new fee award amounts to 2.5% of the judgment fund, Davis wrote. She credited the firm for developing what she said was "the novel, winning legal theory" underpinning the litigation.
Quinn Emanuel has told Davis that it already distributed the $185 million within the firm and that it obtained insurance on the award.
The case is Health Republic Insurance Co v United States, U.S. Court of Federal Claims, No. 1:16-cv-00259.
For Health Republic: Adam Wolfson and Andrew Schapiro of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan
For class objectors: Moe Keshavarzi of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton
Read more:
Legal Fee Tracker: Quinn Emanuel fights to keep $185 million award in Obamacare case
Health insurers slam renewed $185 million fee bid by Quinn Emanuel
Reporting by Mike Scarcella
면책조항: XM Group 회사는 체결 전용 서비스와 온라인 거래 플랫폼에 대한 접근을 제공하여, 개인이 웹사이트에서 또는 웹사이트를 통해 이용 가능한 콘텐츠를 보거나 사용할 수 있도록 허용합니다. 이에 대해 변경하거나 확장할 의도는 없습니다. 이러한 접근 및 사용에는 다음 사항이 항상 적용됩니다: (i) 이용 약관, (ii) 위험 경고, (iii) 완전 면책조항. 따라서, 이러한 콘텐츠는 일반적인 정보에 불과합니다. 특히, 온라인 거래 플랫폼의 콘텐츠는 금융 시장에서의 거래에 대한 권유나 제안이 아닙니다. 금융 시장에서의 거래는 자본에 상당한 위험을 수반합니다.
온라인 거래 플랫폼에 공개된 모든 자료는 교육/정보 목적으로만 제공되며, 금융, 투자세 또는 거래 조언 및 권고, 거래 가격 기록, 금융 상품 또는 원치 않는 금융 프로모션의 거래 제안 또는 권유를 포함하지 않으며, 포함해서도 안됩니다.
이 웹사이트에 포함된 모든 의견, 뉴스, 리서치, 분석, 가격, 기타 정보 또는 제3자 사이트에 대한 링크와 같이 XM이 준비하는 콘텐츠 뿐만 아니라, 제3자 콘텐츠는 일반 시장 논평으로서 "현재" 기준으로 제공되며, 투자 조언으로 여겨지지 않습니다. 모든 콘텐츠가 투자 리서치로 해석되는 경우, 투자 리서치의 독립성을 촉진하기 위해 고안된 법적 요건에 따라 콘텐츠가 의도되지 않았으며, 준비되지 않았다는 점을 인지하고 동의해야 합니다. 따라서, 관련 법률 및 규정에 따른 마케팅 커뮤니케이션이라고 간주됩니다. 여기에서 접근할 수 있는 앞서 언급한 정보에 대한 비독립 투자 리서치 및 위험 경고 알림을 읽고, 이해하시기 바랍니다.
