PITTSBURGH - Age discrimination lawyers will get about 250% more than their client, as a Pittsburgh federal judge has awarded them $200,000 for their work on a case against a custom cabinets company.
Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan on Dec. 6 reduced the amount Peter Winebrake and Mark Gottesfeld were seeking but still granted them $199,870 in fees and another $10,617 in costs for their representation of plaintiff William Pepke.
A jury ruled for Pepke in October, finding Manor House Kitchens discriminated against him when it laid him off at age 60. Winebrake and Gottesfeld billed at $600 per hour and $400 per hour, respectively, and had asked for $224,000 in fees, backing their request with price figures from Philadelphia-based Community Legal Services.
In September, Gottesfeld was awarded his $400 rates in the case McDonnell v. KRG Kings.
"Manor House proposes a modest haircut to each rate," Ranjan wrote.
"It argues that counsel's use of the Philadelphia-based CLS schedule as a starting point is unreasonable for a Pittsburgh-based case, and that McDonnell, a more complex case litigated over a longer period, is factually inapposite. It doesn't provide any affidavit or similar evidence of its own to contest the case."
Pepke won $79,148.50, which includes $30,000 in compensatory damages and $11,500 in liquidated damages under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. The rest is for front and back pay.
The verdict followed Manor House's unsuccessful attempt to avoid trial. Judge Ranjan rejected the company's motion for summary judgment in August, partly thanks to statements made by Manor House president Jeffrey Backus when he laid Pepke off in August 2023.
Backus allegedly said he was going to keep the "younger guys working" when he laid off Pepke. Backus allegedly added "the younger employees live pay-to-pay and they are the future of the company."
"A reasonable jury could conclude from this record that these remarks by the decisionmaker at a termination meeting are direct evidence of age discrimination and that age discrimination was the but-for cause of Mr. Pepke's layoff," Ranjan wrote.
Pepke was the lead installer in Manor House's granite installation department but was laid off on Aug. 7, 2023. He sued Manor House under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.
Manor House defended its actions by pointing to a decrease in revenue from granite installations, a decrease in overall sales, lighter work for granite installation and Pepke's stats as the highest-paid employee in the granite installation department.
It laid off eight other employees in 2023 who ranged in age from 32 to 62. It even brought back one of those laid off who is older than Pepke in 2024.
Pepke says he was asked when he was retiring a month before he was laid off during an annual performance review.
Earlier in 2023, Pepke turned 60 years old. Backus was allegedly "very boisterous" in announcing the birthday in the Manor House shop, adding, "Oh, Bill Pepke is 60 years old. He's got seven more years until Social Security. He's going to be here seven more years."
Manor House said there were several economic factors for Pepke's termination and that age-related statements when combined with statements about cost are not actionable.
Ranjan made reductions in the fee request for travel time, clerical tasks and time spent preparing the motion for fees.