These guys must be glad they weren’t working on contingency.
Two lawyers who scored a $30,000 settlement for their clients in a false-arrest case saw their bill for nearly 10 times that amount upheld today by a Manhattan appeals court.
Michael Spiegel and Scott Korenbaum were awarded an eye-popping $290,000-plus last year after suing the city of White Plains on behalf of three people who were busted for intervening when they saw a friend allegedly getting roughed up by cops.
In a unanimous ruling, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected White Plains’ argument that its settlement offer “clearly intended to include attorneys’ fees,” noting that the plaintiffs’ suit “expressly” sought “’costs and interest and attorneys’ fees’ in addition to compensatory damages.”
”While the total amount of fees and the hourly rates charged by counsel in this case could give pause, defendants neither object to those rates nor demonstrate any abuse of discretion relating to the calculation of the fee award,” according to the decision by Judges Reena Raggi, Peter Hall and Susan Carney.
Spiegel charged $625 a hour for his services, while Korenbaum charged $450, court records show.
Lawyer Joseph Maria, who represented White Plains in the appeal, didn’t return a call for comment.