Marc Perrusquia

marc.perrusquia@commercialappeal.com

Lawyers for two former University of Memphis football players beaten by police near Beale Street in 2011 in the so-called “Choir Practice ‘’ case have been awarded $438,694 in attorney fees and costs.

The award to the Spence Law Firm by U.S. District Court Judge Sheryl H. Lipman on Tuesday involving ex-U of M football players Dupree Lytle and Michael McDonald brings the case’s total cost to the city of Memphis to $588,694. The two men received $75,000 each in a settlement earlier this year after the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an appeal by the city.

The attorney fee award was less than the $577,615 the firm requested yet more than the $339,000 the city’s attorneys said should be awarded.

“I’ll take it,’’ said attorney Robert Spence. He contends his clients were beaten in connection with a ritual at MPD called “choir practice’’ in which off-duty officers congregate in parking lots, consume alcohol and dissect the day's events. The Commercial Appeal explored the case in depth in a November 2015 story.

Singing different tunes: lawsuit alleges MPD 'Choir Practice' led to officer misconduct

City Atty. Bruce McMullen said in an email statement the case has dragged on for four years, intimating the city's attorneys did the best they could.

"A recovery of one dollar would entitle the plaintiff’s counsel to attorney fees,'' McMullen wrote. "We settled the damage claims in the best interest of the city of Memphis, and challenged the attorney fees before the court. We believe the court-awarded fees are high, but we are fiscally prepared to cover them.''

The development follows two other recent, large settlements involving MPD.

The city agreed to pay $185,000 for attorneys' fees, court costs and funeral expenses to the family of Aaron Dumas, who died during a botched police standoff in 2013. The city also paid $587,000 earlier this year in the death of Steven Askew, who was shot and killed in 2013 by Memphis Police Department officers Matthew Dyess and Ned Aufdenkamp.