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Trials & Litigation

Employer ordered to pay $270K plus $2.1M in attorney's fees, federal judge rules

A federal judge has ordered a Minnesota employer to pay a monster $2.1 million in legal fees for work by its opposing counsel in an employment discrimination case.

That’s in addition to the $100,000 for emotional distress and another $170,000, representing double the amount of lost wages, owed to the plaintiff, Ellen Ewald, reports the Star Tribune.

The employer is the government of the country of Norway, for which Ewald worked in its Minneapolis consulate. U.S. District Judge Susan Nelson held that the government violated both the federal Equal Pay Act and the state Human Rights Act by paying her $30,000 less than a man got for doing comparable work.

The Norwegian embassy had offered to settle the case for $25,000 but balked at paying Ewald’s legal fees at the time, which amounted to another $160,000, her lead lawyer, Sheila Engelmeier, told the newspaper. A counteroffer for $400,000 was rejected.

The Star Tribune could not immediately reach Norway’s lawyer, Daniel Wilczek, and it isn’t known whether an appeal is planned.

Minnesota Litigator provides a link to the 191-page Dec. 31 opinion in which U.S. District Judge Susan Nelson ruled in Ewald’s favor after a bench trial.

On Monday the judge awarded attorney’s fees and costs to Ewald, based on interim submissions by her counsel. She had sought $2.3 million for more than 6,000 hours of work performed by her lawyers.

“Ewald and the embassy litigated this case tooth and nail, which explains why Ewald’s attorney’s fees and costs are relatively high,” the judge wrote.