US Airways v. Sabre Holdings Corporation

Nature of the Order

This was a scheduling and case-management order, not a decision on the parties’ entitlement to attorney fees or the amount of any fees.

What the Court Ordered

Judge Cott scheduled a telephone conference for November 1, 2022. The court stated that the parties’ proposed briefing schedule, submitted in a joint letter dated October 21, could not be approved because the Civil Justice Reform Act directs that motions be decided within six months after filing. The court also stated that, in the current posture, Judge Cott would prepare a report and recommendation for Judge Schofield, who would make the dispositive ruling. The order cited the complexity of the subject matter and other pending motions as reasons that the proposed schedule did not allow enough time for timely decision-making.

The conference agenda included whether to revise the briefing schedule; whether to separate the threshold question of entitlement to fees and the degree of recovery from the later question of the proper amount of fees; whether the parties could agree on the hourly rates for attorneys billing time in the case; and how labeling time records as “highly confidential” might affect later judicial decisions in light of the presumption that judicial decisions are publicly accessible. The court also planned to discuss a possible settlement conference before motion practice began.

Fee-Calculation Guidance

The court reminded the parties of the Supreme Court’s statement in Fox v. Vice that courts calculating shifted attorney fees should seek rough justice rather than auditing perfection and may use estimates when calculating and allocating attorney time.

Disposition

The opinion set a conference and identified topics for discussion. It did not grant or deny a fee motion, enter a fee award, or otherwise resolve the underlying fee issues.