Judge Wolson issued an interesting opinion last week on an issue I hadn't seen come up before -- are my fees a secret?
The Defendant in Imaginear, Inc. v. Niantic, Inc., C.A. No. 24-1252-JDW (D. Del. Apr. 23. 2026) moved for fees following final judgment. In support of that motion, they included an attorney declaration that generally explained that the attorney's had agreed to some sort of discounted rates and that disclosing those rates, as well as the monthly billing amounts from which those rates could be determined, could harm both defendant and the attorneys in future negotiations.
I was a bit surprised to see this motion as I often see the rates filed publicly, but perhaps I simply don't notice the ones that are redacted silently under the usual Delaware procedures for redactions. In any event, the thrust of Niantic's motion was that this case was different from most because it involved a negotiated discount (and possibly some other sort of "alternative" arrangement -- I can't tell from the briefing).
The court granted the motion in part, allowing Niantic to redact the discounted rates, but not the overall monthly invoice numbers:
courts will protect attorney billing rate information where that information “is ‘generally not available to the public or competitors,’ ‘commercially sensitive,’ and ‘negotiated.’” “This is especially true where a law firm has ‘modified’ their rates, because ‘confidential billing rate information ... if [it] became known, would likely impact the law firm's competitiveness.’” That is the precise situation here. Sarah E. Peipmeier’s Declaration discusses details of Perkins Coie’s alternate fee arrangement with Niantic, including the various discounted rates that Perkins Coie has charged for its attorneys’ work on this matter. Perkins Coie has submitted a declaration explaining that disclosure of this information “could competitively harm [the firm] by allowing competing law firms to undercut its pricing, potentially affecting its ability to compete when pitching new matters.” Given the specific harm that Perkins Coie could incur if this information is revealed, Niantic may redact information about its alternate fee arrangement with Perkins Coie and the attorney-specific discounts.
Id. at 3 (internal citations omitted).
Obviously, this ruling relied heavily on the fact that the rates here were offered at a special discount, and did not rule that billing rates generally may be sealed. But the gossip in me (most of me, really) is saddened to have this ready source of info on peoples rates.
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