May 1 (Reuters) - (Billable Hours is Reuters' weekly

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A federal judge's contempt ruling against Apple ( AAPL ) has

created a major new legal headache for the iPhone maker, and

also requires it to write a check to its adversary in the case:

"Fortnite" maker Epic Games.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers on Wednesday

found Apple ( AAPL ) willfully violated an injunction she issued in

Epic's 2020 lawsuit that was meant to open up the company's App

Store to greater competition.

The decision immediately bars Apple ( AAPL ) from restricting App

Store customers' use of third-party payment systems. The judge

held Apple ( AAPL ) in civil contempt and referred the case to federal

prosecutors to probe whether Apple ( AAPL ) was in criminal contempt of

court.

Apple ( AAPL ) said it disputed the ruling and will appeal.

As a sanction, Gonzalez Rogers also said Apple ( AAPL ) must pay

legal fees to Epic's legal team, led by Cravath, Swaine & Moore,

for the many months the lawyers spent fighting Apple ( AAPL ) for

information about its compliance with the earlier injunction.

Epic's team at Cravath was led by partners Gary Bornstein,

Yonatan Even, Lauren Moskowitz and Michael Zaken.

Bornstein declined to discuss the size of the Epic's legal

tab on a call with reporters. The fee sanction could be in the

tens of millions of dollars, based on the number of lawyers

working for Epic, and the all-out battle that was waged over

trying to pry information from Apple ( AAPL ).

Some Cravath litigation partners, including Moskowitz, have

billed this year at $2,360 an hour, according to a Reuters

review of U.S. court filings.

"Epic's obviously not out here for fees," Epic Games chief

executive Tim Sweeney told reporters. "We're fighting for the

freedom of ourselves and all developers to do business directly

with our customers, freedom from Apple ( AAPL ) interference and Apple ( AAPL )

taxation."

Apple ( AAPL ) is represented by a team from Weil Gotshal led by Mark

Perry. Lawyers from Gibson Dunn also represented Apple ( AAPL ), which

has denied violating the court's injunction.

The court's order faulted Apple's ( AAPL ) lawyers, without naming

them, for not correcting what the judge called "obvious lies" in

testimony by an Apple ( AAPL ) executive.

Two of Apple's ( AAPL ) chief lawyers in the Epic case did not

immediately respond to requests for comment.

Gonzalez Rogers' order also addressed a separate bid from

Apple ( AAPL ) to recoup more than $73 million in legal fees from Epic

for violating the App Store's developer agreement.

The court's ruling suggested Apple ( AAPL ) will not recover that

much but is due some fees from Epic. Epic's legal team predicted

any award would concern only a "small amount."

-- A founder of law firm Kramer Levin's Paris office has

sued the firm in New York state court, accusing it of failing to

make certain payments in breach of their partnership agreement.

Antoine Paszkiewicz, who had worked at Kramer Levin since

1999, alleged he is owed compensation following the firm's move

in late 2024 to end its agreements with Paris partners as part

of a plan to merge with law firm Herbert Smith Freehills.

Some of Kramer Levin's Paris team jumped to rival law firm

Morgan Lewis. Paszkiewicz said he was excluded from those

negotiations because he was over the firm's mandatory retirement

age of 65. Kramer Levin, he alleged, then failed to pay him the

full compensation he was due under their partnership terms.

Kramer Levin in a statement said it appreciated "the

contributions of our former partners in Paris. The orderly

winddown of the Paris office has fully complied with our

partnership agreement."

A lawyer for Paszkiewicz did not immediately respond to

requests for comment.

--Law firms including Constantine Cannon and Shinder Cantor

Lerner said they will ask a U.S. judge to award them up to $76

million in fees as part of a $228 million antitrust class action

settlement involving California's Sutter Health.

Employers and individuals who sued Sutter in 2012 filed the

proposed settlement in the San Francisco, California federal

court, seeking a judge's approval. Sutter, represented by Jones

Day, denied any wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.

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