Source: The Times of India

The 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a $114,663.11 legal fee award after rejecting Flux Drive Inc.’s objection based on alleged artificial intelligence use. Flux Drive argued that AI could accelerate legal work and that the defence lawyers had consequently billed excessive hours. The underlying lawsuit accused defendants based in Illinois of misappropriating Flux Drive’s proprietary technology. A federal district court in Colorado dismissed that lawsuit for lack of jurisdiction over the defendants, without trying the substantive claims. The defendants then sought reimbursement of legal fees for work performed by Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.

The district judge examined the firm’s billing records, accepted the hours and rates as reasonable, and ordered Flux Drive to pay the award. According to the report, the unanimous appellate panel concluded that Flux Drive had not identified particular entries inflated, duplicated or fabricated through technology use. Circuit Judge Carolyn McHugh recognised that AI could shorten research and drafting, while explaining that the challenger still had to demonstrate unreasonable billing. The appellate decision therefore left the fee award intact; the reported reasoning did not treat AI assistance alone as proof of excessive charges. The report also explains that evidence of unreasonable hours could still support a fee reduction, so the decision does not exempt AI-assisted legal work from billing scrutiny.