Pfeifer v. Sentry Insurance

In connection to a lawsuit for police misconduct, the City of Brookfield (city) (plaintiff) hired law firm Briesen & Purtell, S.C. (Briesen). Prior to the commencement of the lawsuit, Briesen contacted Western World Insurance (Western) (defendant), the city’s law-enforcement liability insurer, asking that it be allowed to represent the city. Although Western agreed, Western gave Briesen a list of guidelines that Briesen should follow in representing the city. After settling the lawsuit, Briesen sent Western a $60,012.72 bill for attorney fees and costs. Western challenged Briesen’s fees as unreasonable and excessive, arguing among other things that Briesen failed to follow Western’s representation guidelines. For example, Western alleged that Briesen violated Western’s guidelines by billing in excess of guideline limits on legal research hours, and by failing to seek approval before incurring expenses for additional legal research and depositions. Further, Western alleged that Briesen spent too many hours conducting tasks, including 35 hours drafting a failed motion to dismiss because Deborah Pfeifer, who filed the lawsuit, failed to include her name in the caption of her complaint against the city. Western also alleged that many expenses were incurred as a result of Briesen’s violation of a request that Western made during the course of the representation that only one attorney work on the case. Altogether, Western asked that the court disallow $45,243.44 in billed charges.