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Supremes Allow Paralegal Fees Recovery At Market Rates

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 06.03.08

Reversing contrary Board and Federal Circuit rulings, the Supreme Court in Richlin Sec. Serv. Co. v. Chertoff (June 2, 2008, http://www.supreme courtus.gov/opinions/07pdf/06-1717.pdf) unanimously ruled that the Equal Access to Justice Act allows a client to recover market rate paralegal fees charged to the client, not just the cost of the paralegal to the attorney retained by the client. The Supreme Court ruled that paralegal fees are implied in the term "attorneys fees" in the statute and are subject to the same per-hour limitations.

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Client Alert | 4 min read | 08.13.26

Supreme Court Confirms Contractual Loss of Bargain Without Repudiatory Breach

English law has long treated the choice between terminating for repudiatory breach and exercising a contractual termination right as consequential. Under the Financings[1] causation principle, a party exercising a contractual right for a non-repudiatory breach could recover losses accrued to the date of termination — but nothing more. Loss of bargain was out of reach unless the breach went to the root of the contract. A practical workaround, confirmed in Lombard,[2] was to designate the relevant obligation as a condition, elevating any breach to repudiatory status, but that device carries significant strategic risk if the termination is later found to have been wrongful....