Federal judge holds attorney jointly responsible for more than $207K of legal fees after criticizing plaintiff’s “chutzpah”
Trials & Litigation
Criticizing plaintiff’s ‘chutzpah,’ federal judge holds lawyer jointly responsible for over $207K in legal fees
August 29, 2024, 2:34 pm CDT
A federal judge in Houston is holding a lawyer and his client liable for more than $207,500 in their opponent’s legal fees (Image from Shutterstock)
A federal judge in Houston is holding a lawyer and his client liable for more than $207,500 in their opponent’s legal fees, saying they filed a patent infringement lawsuit and continued to litigate it after the defendant “pointed out its obvious lack of merit.”
U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal of the Southern District of Texas required Houston lawyer William P. Ramey III and his client VDPP to pay the fees in their suit contending that a Volkswagen backup camera infringed VDPP’s patent, Reuters reports.
VDPP had argued that the fee award should be limited to the time spent defending “the exceptional portion of the case,” a reference to parts of a case found to be frivolous or unreasonable.
Rosenthal responded that the entire case was frivolous, and VDPP’s arguments displayed “chutzpah.”
“The entire case was exceptional, from the outset, for reasons that VDPP and its counsel knew,” wrote Rosenthal in her Aug. 13 decision. The entire case was exceptional, from the beginning, for reasons that VDPP and its counsel knew,” wrote Rosenthal in her Aug. 13 decision. It was all frivolous.”
VDPP sought future damages that were “clearly unrecoverable” because the patent had expired, Rosenthal wrote. She said the company sought past damages which were “clearly irrecoverable” as VDPP did not comply with marking regulations. VDPP had said there were no settlement agreements–only “agreements in principle,” Rosenthal said.
According to Reuters, Ramey and his law firm filed more than 100 suits this year, including at least 25 in which VDPP was the plaintiff. Reuters reports that federal judges have imposed fees sanctions on Ramey at least seven times over the past four years. The sanctions total is at least $810,000, according to the wire service.
Ramey told Reuters in a statement that he and VDPP “respect all court orders. We appeal orders that we believe are incorrect, just as we did in this case.
