
A St. Petersburg man contested a $4,308 bill. Now, he could owe nearly $150k - howard941
https://www.tampabay.com/business/a-st-petersburg-man-contested-a-4308-bill-now-he-could-owe-nearly-150000-20190402/
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wahern
What did he expect? He ran up a $50k+ bill just for his own lawyer, all for a
measly $4k.

Unlike many other countries which follow the so-called English Rule where
losers _routinely_ must pay their opponents legal costs, in the U.S. we follow
the American Rule where each opponent normally pays their own costs _unless_
there's exceptionally poor behavior by one side, such as bringing or defending
a suit in bad faith. Without knowing more, I would assume that the contractor
here is being punished for bad behavior--not for the original behavior, but
for being intransigent after the fact.

Also, the fees are likely to come down as the numbers quoted seem to be what
the lawyers are _asking_ , not what the court has accepted as reasonable. The
types of fees that can be assessed are quite limited, not the entirety of the
costs born by the other side, so there's significant motivation to reclassify
and exaggerate costs. It's the judge's job to sort this out.

