It always saddens me to hear that a group of attorneys might be denied the right to make a fair wage.

Bankruptcy lawyers for Northwest Airlines Corp. were denied $4.2 million in “end-of-case” bonuses Tuesday, after the judge ruled that  their average rates of about $500 an hour had already provided adequate compensation.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper rejected a $3.5 million bonus for Northwest Airlines’ lead law firm, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, which ushered the airline out of bankruptcy in May. A law firm representing creditors, Otterbourg, Steindler, Houston & Rosen, was also told to forget a $700,000 bonus.

Gropper said that for the attorneys to deserve a so-called fee enhancement, their work should have a remarkable result that couldn’t be expected from lawyers being paid their regular fees.

The flight attendants at Northwest, represented by the AFA,  as well as the U.S. Trustee and a creditor-turned-shareholder objected to the bonuses, arguing they were unjustified. Those groups said Northwest’s bankruptcy had not produced a remarkable result, since its share price has dropped 22 % since the company emerged from court protection on May 31.

The AFA also objected on the grounds that pilots and flight attendants took pay cuts and schedule changes to help the airline out of Chapter 11.

Small victory in the big scheme of things, but a victory nonetheless.

In other action, Gropper agreed to paying the law firms involved their submitted bills for their work on the bankruptcy.  Gropper approved a total bill of $118.8 million in fees and $5.4 million in expenses.

Cadwalader earned $35.4 million in fees and $2.2 million in expenses. Otterbourg got about $7 million in fees and $210,231 in expenses.

Ticker: (NYSE:NWA)

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