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A federal judge has ordered Equifax to pay a Marion County woman $302,002 for attorneys fees on top of the $1.8 million she's already was awarded in compensatory and punitive damages. Equifax has appealed.
(AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Marion County resident Julie Miller took on Equifax last year and won handily, with a jury awarding one of the highest-ever damages against a top credit reporting agency.
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Although the jury's award was ultimately reduced, a federal court judge has now ordered that Equifax should cover Miller's attorneys fees.
U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown ordered Equifax to pay $302,002 in attorneys fees and an another $380 in legal costs.
Last summer, a federal jury awarded Miller $18.6 million, including $180,000 in compensatory damages and $18.4 million in punitive.
Equifax appealed and the punitive amount was later reduced to $1.62 million, which remained at the far end of what is typically awarded to plaintiffs.
Equifax has appealed again, arguing that the current total of $2.1 million -- including the attorney's fees -- remains too large, said Michael Baxter of the Portland firm Baxter and Baxter that represents Miller.
Miller and the Baxters sued Equifax in October 2011 after the company failed to respond to Miller's numerous attempts to fix numerous mistakes on her credit history.
The credit reporting agency had confused another the plaintiff with another "Julie Miller," even down to have a wrong Social Security number and birthday on the right Julie Miller's report. She'd alleged that the mix-up hurt her credit history and prevented her from taking out a loan to help her disabled brother.
-- Laura Gunderson