Delaware Business Litigation Report

Court of Chancery Decides Formula for Fee Advancement

Underbrink v. Warrior Energy Services Corp., C.A. 2982-VCP (Del. Ch. Feb. 24, 2009)

 

When a party is entitled to have her attorney fees advanced while litigation is pending, the Court of Chancery is faced with the possible task of reviewing each monthly bill to decide what is reasonable. At the end of the case, of course, a final accounting will occur, but that is too late and would defeat the whole purpose of a right to advancement.

 

To avoid the onerous task of acting like an attorney fee audit firm, the Court of Chancery has explored using formulas to decide how much of each month's bills should be paid. That way the bills are paid at least at a level that provides enough compensation to obtain representation, while not awarding so much as to encourage a complete lack of restraint. For example, the Court may decide that 65% of the bills should be paid promptly and the balance left to a final accounting. That is what it did here.

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