US judge rebuffs $85 million fee request by lawyers in Google Play antitrust litigation

Judge says lawyers' billing records lack detail Consumer lawyers said they invested nearly 100,000 hours in the litigation Requested fee equals 13.5% of $630 million settlement fund By Mike Scarcella WASHINGTON, Oct 16 (Reuters) — A federal judge in California has rejected for now a request by lawyers for consumers who sued Alphabet's Google over its Play Store practices to collect $85 million in legal fees from a $630 million settlement, saying the attorneys failed to provide sufficient records to justify the award. US District Judge James Donato in San Francisco in a ruling on Thursday said the lawyers failed to submit adequately detailed billing records, describing the material as "utterly lacking in information demonstrating what work was done and for what purpose" in the litigation. Donato also questioned whether the consumer lawyers alone were responsible for obtaining the settlement, noting that attorneys representing all 50 states and other government entities participated in the litigation that led to the deal. "The lawyers asking for fees here were far from the only attorneys who worked to obtain the $630 million common fund settlement," Donato said. “Every state and equi