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(Reuters) – American Airlines Inc is preparing to ask a Manhattan federal court judge to award it legal fees in a long-running antitrust case against flight-booking service Sabre Corp, setting up a lawyer compensation clash after a jury awarded the airline just $1 in damages at trial in May.
American’s lawyers at O’Melveny & Myers and attorneys for Sabre at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom on Thursday told the court in a filing the two sides already were in dispute over how much billing information the airline should be forced to provide as part of its upcoming petition for fees.
The airline’s lawsuit, accusing Sabre of charging excessive fees and suppressing competition, was lodged in 2011 by then-US Airways, which later merged with Fort Worth, Texas-based American. Southlake, Texas-based Sabre runs an electronic network that travel agents use to book flights. The company denied violating federal antitrust law.
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American hasn’t yet said how much it will ask for, but Sabre’s attorneys predicted American “likely will seek tens of millions of dollars despite USAir’s loss on all of its claims but one, for which USAir received effectively zero percent of its claimed damages and no prospective relief.”
O’Melveny partner Andrew Frackman, a lawyer for American, and Skadden partner Boris Bershteyn, representing Sabre, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
A representative from American did not immediately comment and Sabre did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
American sought $300 million in damages from Sabre, which…