Review and analysis for major insurance carrier of over $30 million of defense costs billed by multiple firms nationwide including national coordinating counsel and multiple regional counsel for defense of asbestos litigation against fortune 500 equipment manufacturer. Designated as expert and testified in deposition. Review of additional $39 million in defense costs in second phase of review in 2010 and additional $15 million reviewed in 2012 for a total of over $80 million in fees and costs reviewed.
Legal Fee Auditor and Consultant retained by insurer to review and analyze fees and costs billed by 40 law firms and other legal service providers for intellectual property matters related to medical devices. Reviewed fees and costs of $26,426,040.53 to identify mathematical billing errors, invoices with insufficient billing detail, various reasonableness issues, tasks for other clients billed to the wrong matters, and other violations of the insurer’s billing guidelines.
Legal Fee Auditor in insurance coverage dispute related to product liability MDL litigation including hundreds of personal injury cases. Reviewed $20,931,511.02 in fees and expenses billed by 94 timekeepers from 3 law firms, and $5,892,714.81 in additional vendor expenses, to identify reasonableness issues.
Audit of over $10 million in law firm bills in case of allegations of overbilling by law firm for defense of asbestos cases.
Review for major insurance carrier of over $16,000,000 in defense costs billed by nine law firms in complex toxic tort litigation (Lockheed “Skunkworks” litigation, California). Designated as expert witness and testified in deposition in litigation between insured and insurance carrier.
Legal Fee Auditor for reasonableness expert for toxic exposure class action litigation by employees against electronics manufacturers, and related claims, including four law firms in the United States and Taiwan, totaling approximately $5,967,559.93 in fees and expenses.
Review and allocation for insurance carrier of over $52 million in attorneys’ fees and expenses submitted by law firm in connection with defense of major toxic tort litigation (IBM “clean room” litigation).
Legal Fee Auditor and Consultant retained through reasonableness fee expert to review and analyze 3,073.10 hours billed by 42 timekeepers totaling $4,838,617.07 in fees for defendant in design defects construction litigation. Review included identification and quantification of charges for reasonableness issues and allocation of fees and costs related to defendant’s affirmative claims.
Legal Fee Auditor and Consultant for insurer of international distributor of agricultural products as third-party defendant in a complicated defamation, product liability, class action, and insurance coverage dispute. Reviewed fees and costs of $4,355,547.15 billed by four national law firms to identify reasonableness issues and conduct quantification of tasks related to 21 special allocation projects, together demonstrating over 85% of all fees and costs were unrelated to the covered defensive claims.
Review for insurance carrier of over $12,000,000 in defense costs submitted by insured municipality in connection with environmental litigation, including identification and allocation of fees and costs associated with covered and non covered claims.
Review and analysis for insurance carrier of $2.1 million in defense costs for defense of environmental exposure litigation arising from the World Trade Center disaster.
Legal Fee Auditor and Expert retained by insurer to review $451,184.01 in legal fees for compliance with insurer’s billing guidelines in insurance coverage dispute associated with bridge collapse litigation. Identified $158,406.19 in fees and costs for billing rates in excess of retention agreement, various reasonableness issues, unauthorized billing rate increases, and excessive legal research.
Legal Fee Expert retained by counsel for insurer of heavy equipment manufacturer in product liability personal injury and property damage claim resulting from equipment collapse at mining site. Conducted allocation analysis of $488,163.82 in fees and costs, between covered and non-covered charges based upon billing dates, law firm matter designations, and subject of task descriptions. Provided declaration providing court the factual basis to establish fees as outside the coverage period.
Legal Fee Auditor retained by counsel for insurer to analyze compliance to insurer’s billing guidelines by 3 law firms billing $1,468,097.44 in fees in commercial litigation matter. Identified $472,924.59 in mathematical errors and billing discrepancies, fees billed prior to notice to the insurer, and various reasonableness issues.
Legal Auditor, Consultant, and Expert Witness in Asbestos Litigation fee dispute between a large national insurance company and a large San Francisco law firm. Lead auditor for on-site legal fee audit of fees related to the defense of various asbestos matters filed in the San Francisco Bay area courts. Fees totaling $1,918,283.30 consisted of 9,187 pages of invoices, comprising 12,237.00 hours of time recorded by 35 timekeepers. Provided testimony at arbitration.
