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Winning Attorney's Fees in Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law Cases

By James Rubin, Esq.

On June 8, 2010, I won a $30,769.08 wage payment verdict on behalf of my client (which was 100% of the amount owed).  The jury was asked three essential questions:

1. Did the employer owe my client money and if so, how much?  (The answers were, "yes" and "$30,769.08").
2. Did the employer withhold the money in bad faith?  (The answer was, "yes").
3. Do you award the plaintiff additional damages up to three times the amount owed?  (The answer was "no").

Translation:  my client won what he was owed but was not awarded additional damages.

Because the jury found the employer withheld the money in bad faith I was permitted to seek my client's attorney's fees.   Had the jury answered "no" to the second question above, we would not have been permitted to seek my client's attorney's fees under a 2009 Maryland Court of Appeals case. 

In the end, the Court awarded my client an additional $36,212.35, 100% of the fees he incurred in obtaining the verdict.

Full post as published by Maryland Employment Law on August 05, 2010 (boomark / email).