I will be speaking at an upcoming seminar through Virginia CLE which may be of interest to some readers. The seminar concerns court-awarded attorney’s fees in Virginia’s state and federal courts, with a focus on the mechanics of fee petitions, and fee-shifting litigation.
The seminar will be webcast on June 22, 2011 at noon, with several follow-up broadcasts to follow. Anyone wanting to register, or to read more about the seminar, can do so here.
Two noted experts on fee-shifting litigation round out the panel–John Rigby and Craig Wood–and I look forward to lively exchange. One of the interesting things about teaching CLEs is the chance to learn from your co-presenters at these seminars.
As regular readers know, under the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act or the federal False Claims Act, an award of attorney’s fees to a prevailing plaintiff is mandatory. In that regard, VFATA or FCA cases are similar to FLSA or FMLA litigation–that is to say, even a very small case can be worthwhile under the right circumstances.
In many ways, Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act and/or False Claims Act cases are even better, because there is no requirement that the government even suffer damages–indeed, even one false claim to the government for payment subjects the defendant to liability for a single civil penalty of between $5,500 and $11,000, plus the entire fee incurred by the plaintiff’s attorney.
It is however one thing to be entitled to the award of your entire fee, and it is quite another to actually be awarded the entire fee…interested readers should tune in on June 22 to learn more.