French v. Corporate Receivables, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 13158 (June 7)
After a $1,000 verdict pursuant to its Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) claim, plaintiffs sought attorney’s fees. The trial court awarded only $2,500 because plaintiffs’ success was de minimus. The First Circuit affirmed. The Court noted than an award of attorney’s fees to a successful FDCPA claim is mandatory. However, the amount of the award must be reasonable, and limited success at trial “is an accepted ground for limiting fees under The FDCPA. Here, the fact that plaintiffs rejected a settlement offer considerably higher than the eventual verdict suggests that they hoped to obtain much more in damages. Especially since they had little chance of doing so, their small award did not justify a large fee award.”
