Also known as: attorney's fee · attorneys' fees · attorney fees · attorney fees award
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Compensation paid to an attorney for professional legal services rendered to a client. Recovery of such fees is governed by statute, contract, or limited common-law exceptions rather than as ordinary damages.
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Ava Adebayo filed a state-court contract suit against Azure Solutions. Azure removed the case to federal court on diversity grounds that later proved defective. The district court remanded the action and ordered Azure to pay Ava's attorney fees incurred because of the removal.
Adam Anderson sued Arcadia Retail for negligence after a slip-and-fall. The jury awarded compensatory damages for medical expenses and lost wages. The court denied Adam's request to add his attorney fees to the judgment because tort damages do not ordinarily include litigation expenses.
Aisha Ahmed was forced to sue a third-party supplier after Atlas Ventures' defective product caused her injury. Aisha prevailed in the supplier action. She then recovered reasonable attorney fees from Atlas because the tort required her to litigate against the third party to protect her interests.
Andrew Avery prevailed on a section 1981 claim against his former employer. The court entered judgment for back pay and compensatory damages. It separately awarded Andrew reasonable attorney fees as part of the prevailing-party relief authorized by the governing statute.
Adrian Aguilar defeated a private-school discrimination claim brought under federal civil-rights law. The court determined that the plaintiffs' action lacked merit. It ordered the plaintiffs to pay Adrian's attorney fees incurred in the successful defense.
Amber Alonzo sued her former employer for wrongful termination. The employment agreement contained an attorney-fee clause triggered by litigation. After Amber prevailed, the court enforced the clause and awarded her reasonable fees as the prevailing party under the contract.
A district court may require the removing party to pay just costs and actual expenses, including attorney fees, when it remands a case for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction or because removal was defective. The award compensates the non-removing party for expenses caused by the improper removal.
Supporting sources
Tort damages do not ordinarily compensate a prevailing plaintiff for attorney fees or other litigation expenses. An exception exists when the defendant's tort forces the plaintiff to sue or defend against a third party to protect the plaintiff's interests.
Supporting sources
…injunction and from the awarding of damages to Webb. Webb cross-appeals from the trial court's refusal to award Webb its attorneys' fees. The facts necessary for a determination of this matter on appeal are as follows. In 1956, Spur purchased 250 acres of farmland in an area which at that time was largely agricultural. The…