Cosby Ordered to Pay Quinn Emanuel $2.7M in Fee Dispute
One year into his prison sentence, Bill Cosby lost a confrontation with Quinn Emanuel over his legal fees.
September 25, 2019 at 12:03 PM
4 minute read
The original version of this story was published on The Recorder
Bill Cosby. Photo: Randy Miramontez/Shutterstock.com
Bill Cosby can't get out of paying Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan more than $2.3 million in legal fees, a judge has ruled.
As Cosby approached his one-year anniversary in prison, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elaine Lu last week denied Cosby's motion to vacate an arbitration award Quinn Emanuel won earlier this year, granting the law firm's motion to confirm the award.
Lu ordered Cosby to pay the firm a total of more than $2.7 million, including prejudgment interest and arbitration fees. A hearing on the matter was held Sept. 20 in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Cosby was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison Sept. 25, 2018, after his conviction for aggravated indecent assault and was led from a Pennsylvania courtroom in handcuffs.
Cosby filed a petition in April asking the Los Angeles court to vacate the arbitration award in Quinn Emanuel's favor. The filing included a copy of Cosby's original demand for arbitration, dated July 2017, which said the firm billed for more than 11,000 hours and $8.55 million in a nine-month period in 2015 and 2016.
Cosby paid over $4.3 million to the firm in 2015 and 2016 individually and through his insurer, AIG, court documents said, and Quinn Emanuel sought to recover over $4.8 million in the arbitration.
Cosby had alleged that the JAMS arbitration panel "exceeded its authority by allowing Quinn Emanuel to retain $4,328,170.78 in fees and awarding Quinn Emanuel an additional $2,390,870.00 in attorney's fees." The arbitration panel also awarded Quinn Emanuel arbitration fees of $190,313, in the January 2019 final award.
Retired Los Angeles County Superior Court Judges Carl West and Peter Lichtman and retired U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian for the Central District of California served on the arbitration panel.
Cosby also alleged in his petition that Quinn Emanuel inefficiently staffed his matters, noting that there were 38 billed professionals on his matters, including 28 lawyers. He alleged that the firm charged "unconscionable fees," citing hourly rates of up to $1,175 for some lawyers, $300 for paralegals and $365 for law clerks. And he alleged the firm made "risky and ineffective strategy decisions."
Christopher Tayback and Joseph Sarles led the Quinn Emanuel team and were admitted to represent Cosby in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, in the Philadelphia suburbs. The firm withdrew its representation in July 2016.
Cosby also alleged in the original complaint that Quinn Emanuel did not disclose potential conflicts of interest arising from its dual representation of Cosby and insurer AIG.
With regard to the arbitration specifically, Cosby alleged that his rights were prejudiced because the panel refused to postpone the arbitration until after criminal proceedings concluded. "As a result, petitioner was forced to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights during his deposition in this matter," the petition said.
Cosby also faced litigation over legal fees he had failed to pay Philadelphia-based Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis. That case, which involved a much smaller sum of $282,000, settled in February, according to a filing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Jeremy Osher and Steven Kuehl of Boren, Osher & Luftman, who represented Cosby in the case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning.
A spokeswoman for Quinn Emanuel also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read More
Bill Cosby Fights Quinn Emanuel Over Millions in Legal Fees
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More Bad News for Bill Cosby: Law Firm Sues for More Than $282K in Legal Fees
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