American Airlines lawyers, after $1 antitrust win, seek ‘very substantial’ fees

(Reuters) – American Airlines Team Inc is vying to recoup far more than a 10 years of “significant” legal fees from Sabre Corp following successful a $1 antitrust verdict at demo in May perhaps versus the flight scheduling provider.

Lawyers for American at the U.S. legislation business O’Melveny & Myers on Friday argued in a submitting in Manhattan federal courtroom that the Fort Really worth, Texas-centered air provider really should be awarded fees after 11 a long time of litigation.

Neither aspect appealed the jury trial verdict.

U.S. District Decide Lorna Schofield have to initially make a decision no matter whether American is entitled to service fees at all. American’s submitting did not discover an quantity, but O’Melveny lover Andrew Frackman formerly in courtroom explained it as “extremely, very sizeable.”

American’s costs could be predicted to be at least tens of hundreds of thousands of pounds, provided the size of the litigation, which provided two trials and an attraction.

An experienced lover at O’Melveny can monthly bill at $1,200 or more hourly, U.S. courtroom documents in other conditions demonstrate. Normal husband or wife payment at 700-law firm O’Melveny in 2021 was about $2.6 million, in accordance to an American Attorney report.

A agent from American did not straight away remark on Monday, and a Sabre spokesperson did not right away respond to a concept searching for remark.

Southlake, Texas-dependent Sabre is the country’s most significant proprietor and operator of a community that travel brokers use to lookup and e-book flights listed by the airways.

Sabre will oppose the airline’s demand from customers for costs. It has reported American’s lawyers must not get something, since the company received a $1 nominal verdict.

The lawsuit in opposition to Sabre was filed in 2011 by US Airways, which later merged with American. The complaint accused Sabre of charging abnormal costs and curbing opposition in the flight-scheduling current market.

American alleged $300 million in damages at trial, in which a workforce from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom defended Sabre and disputed the promises.

The demo was the 2nd in the scenario, after a 2016 jury verdict was wiped out by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Number of instances involve these types of hard work about this sort of a extended interval of time,” Frackman wrote in the fee filing.

In July, Skadden companion Patrick Fitzgerald, symbolizing Sabre, said in court that “provided the quantity of charges we assume US Airways to find, we assume it would make sense to pursue settlement conversations.”

Sabre and American experimented with for months to resolve the cost dispute out of court docket, filings present, but did not access resolution.

The situation is US Airways Inc, for American Airways Inc v Sabre Holdings Corp, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. No. 1:11-cv-02725-LGS-JLC.

For US Airways: Andrew Frackman of O’Melveny & Myers R. Paul Yetter of Yetter Coleman

For Sabre: Patrick Fitzgerald and Boris Bershteyn of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

Browse much more:

American Airways will get favorable antitrust verdict, and $1 in damages

Companion shell out check out: O’Melveny’s Leviss, now SEC associate normal counsel

American Airlines wins key ruling in antitrust case in opposition to Sabre

Our Criteria: The Thomson Reuters Believe in Concepts.