Opinion ID: 790531
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Contingency Fees

Text: 75 As for Kay's request to have her contingency fee agreement considered, it is without merit. First, she did not raise her contingency agreement until long after the court limited her fees to those incurred in intervening. Moreover, her attorney's fee affidavit acknowledged that calculation of attorney's fees is made by the lodestar method even when there is a contingency agreement. Even if she properly presented this issue below, our law is clear that fee awards may not be enhanced for the risks of contingency. See Drennan v. General Motors Corp., 977 F.2d 246, 253 (6th Cir.1992) (citing City of Burlington v. Dague, 505 U.S. 557, 567, 112 S.Ct. 2638, 120 L.Ed.2d 449 (1992)); see also Murphy v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., 247 F.3d 1313, 1315 (11th Cir.2001). 76 Accordingly, on remand the district court is to reconsider Kay's initial request for attorney's fees, if she is able to substantiate the hours worked solely on her behalf, without limiting them to her efforts to intervene.