On July 1, 2025, the First Department issued a decision in Xinni Zhang v. Chu, 2025 NY Slip Op. 03988, holding that a losing party should have been given an opportunity to challenge that calculation of the fee award against it, explaining:
[T]he court should not have granted defendant’s fee application in full without first allowing plaintiff to challenge the amount of the award. An award of attorneys’ fees must be reasonable and not excessive, and courts look at a number of factors in determining whether a fee is reasonable. Although an award of attorneys’ fees is in the sound discretion of the motion court, here the court approved the total amount of the fee application without the benefit of opposition papers or an explanation of the court’s analysis. Thus, plaintiff was not afforded the opportunity to contest the reasonableness of the fee application. Accordingly, the award of attorneys’ fees is vacated, and the matter is remanded so that plaintiff has the opportunity to respond and object to defendant’s fee application.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).