Even in a fee-shifting case, it’s permissible for a judge evaluating a fee application to consider what a client would be willing to pay for the engagement, a New Jersey appeals court said in upholding the reduction of a $94,000 fee application in a case that settled for $10,000.
“We conclude, even in the context of fee shifting, a fee award should not be premised on a recoupment that would not have been the product of a rationally related fee agreement,” the Appellate Division said Jan. 21 in Winyard v. 21st Century Leasing Corp.
