Nguyen, et al v. State Farm Mtl Auto

Filing 309

ORDER granting in part and denying in part 299 Motion for Order to disclose fee agreement. By August 13, 2014, the plaintiff SHALL FILE with the court a copy of the attorney fee agreement between Ms. Folks and her counsel, as described in Plaintiff's Motion for Attorney Fees 280 . Plaintiff SHALL FILE the attorney fee agreement between Ms. Folks and her counsel under a Level 2 restriction, by Judge Robert E. Blackburn on 8/5/2014.(trlee, )

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Judge Robert E. Blackburn
Civil Action No. 04-cv-00243-REB-BNB
ROBERTA FOLKS,
Plaintiff,
v.
STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, an Illinois
corporation,
Defendant.

ORDER TO DISCLOSE FEE AGREEMENT
Blackburn, J.
This matter is before me on the Motion To Require Disclosure of Fee
Agreement; and Request for Expedited Ruling [#299]1 filed November 14, 2013.
The plaintiff filed a response [#305] and the defendant filed a reply [#308]. I grant the
motion in part.
Pending before the court is Plaintiff’s Motion for Attorney Fees [#280]. The
plaintiff, Roberta Folks, seeks to recover attorney fees under §10-4-708(1.7), C.R.S.,
repealed by §10-4-726, C.R.S. (2002), effective July 1, 2003. That statute permits
recovery only of reasonable attorney fees actually incurred by the plaintiff. Brody v.
State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 194 P.3d 459, 461 (Colo. App. 2008). To resolve the
motion [#280] of the plaintiff for an award of attorney fees, the court must review the fee

1

“[#299]” is an example of the convention I use to identify the docket number assigned to a
specific paper by the court’s case management and electronic case filing system (CM/ECF). I use this
convention throughout this order.

agreement between Ms. Folks and her counsel to determine the reasonable attorney
fees actually incurred by Ms. Folks in this case. Ms. Folks contends the fee agreement
is “proprietary” and opposes disclosure of the fee agreement to opposing counsel.
Response [#305], p. 3. The court will review the fee agreement in camera to resolve
the motion for attorney fees.
THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED as follows:
1. That the Motion To Require Disclosure of Fee Agreement; and Request
for Expedited Ruling [#299] filed November 14, 2013, is GRANTED in part;
2. That by August 13, 2014, the plaintiff SHALL FILE with the court a copy of the
attorney fee agreement between Ms. Folks and her counsel, as described in
Plaintiff’s Motion for Attorney Fees [#280];
3. That under D.C.COLO.LCivR 7.2, the plaintiff SHALL FILE the attorney fee
agreement between Ms. Folks and her counsel under a Level 2 restriction, which limits
access to the filing party and the court;
4. That otherwise, the Motion To Require Disclosure of Fee Agreement; and
Request for Expedited Ruling [#299] filed November 14, 2013, is DENIED.
Dated August 5, 2014, at Denver, Colorado.
BY THE COURT:

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