Opinion ID: 738304
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Credit for payments made.

Text: 40 Dunne argues that the magistrate judge erred by subtracting the $863,944.15 he had already received under his $40 per hour contract from the amount the common fund had to pay him. He has two theories, though no authorities. 41 First, Dunne says that the Florida Attorney General's office paid him the $863,944.15, so the money should be treated as part of Florida's fee petition as an expense borne by Florida, but the common fund should not get credit for it. Because the Attorney General's office was paying the people's money to Dunne for his work on behalf of the benefitted class, the magistrate reasonably exercised her discretion to credit this advance to Dunne on the class's behalf against what the common fund owed. 42 Dunne's second argument is that because the magistrate found that only 10,931.6 of his hours benefitted the class, and he had been paid $40 per hour for 21,068.6 hours, the common fund should only get credit for $40 per hour times 10,931.6 hours. The word chutzpah 1 leaps to mind. What the magistrate judge did was to credit the fund for what the people of Florida had already paid Dunne, whether he had overcharged them or not. He wants to be able to keep the money he charged inappropriately, without giving them credit for it. The magistrate reasonably exercised her discretion to credit the beneficiaries of the common fund with the full amount of their interim payments for Dunne's services, whether he had overcharged them or not. 43