DECISION1
LISA HAMILTON-FIELDMAN, Special Master.
On August 9, 2011, Steven Houck ("Petitioner") filed a petition pursuant to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.2 42 U.S.C. §§ 300aa-1 to -34 (2006). Petitioner alleged that he was administered a Hepatitis B ("Hep B") vaccine on November 8, 2010, and that the vaccine caused him to suffer from "an autoimmune reaction and/or post vaccine polyneuropathy." Petition, at 1. On December 15, 2014, the undersigned issued a decision awarding compensation to Petitioner based on the parties' stipulation. See Stipulation for Award, filed December 15, 2014. Judgment entered on the entitlement decision on December 18, 2014.
Petitioner subsequently filed a timely motion for attorneys' fees and costs.3 See Petitioner's Application for Attorneys' Fees and Costs, filed May 1, 2015, at 1. Petitioner requested compensation for attorneys' fees amounting to $44,088.30 and for attorneys' costs amounting to $16,556.14. Id. Petitioner and his counsel verified that Petitioner had not personally incurred any costs in pursuit of his claim. See General Order #9 Statement, filed May 1, 2015, at 1.
On May 29, 2015, Respondent filed substantive objections to Petitioner's application for attorneys' fees and costs [hereinafter "Resp. Response"]. Respondent objected to the hourly rates sought by Petitioner's counsel, to the time expended that she deemed unreasonable or excessive, and to the claimed expert rate and costs. Resp. Response at 1, 18-21. Specifically, Respondent objected to the use of multiple attorneys, from the same firm, in processing Petitioner's case. Id. at 18-19. Respondent also characterized as "excessive" the time an attorney spent researching the medical literature, consulting with an expert, and reviewing Petitioner's two expert reports. Id. at 19-20. Finally, Respondent objected to the claimed expert costs and argued that the expert's hours should be reduced. Id. at 20.
Petitioner replied to Respondent's objections on June 22, 2015, and filed an amended application for attorneys' fees and costs that same day. In his amended application, Petitioner increased his attorneys' fees request to $50,238.20; his attorneys' costs request remained the same.
On October 16, 2015, Petitioner filed a second amended application for attorneys' fees and costs. Petitioner's new application incorporated the rates that had been approved by Special Master Gowen in McCulloch v. Sec'y of Health & Human Servs., but the substance of the application was otherwise unchanged. See McCulloch, No. 09-293V, 2015 WL 5634323 (Fed. Cl. Spec. Mstr. Sept. 1, 2015), mot. for reconsid. denied, 2015 WL 6181910 (Fed. Cl. Spec. Mstr. Sept. 21, 2015) [hereinafter "McCulloch"]. Petitioner requested compensation for attorneys' fees amounting to $49,665.20 and for attorneys' costs amounting to $16,556.14 (the latter of which was unchanged from the previous requests). In total, Petitioner is now requesting compensation for $66,221.34 in attorneys' fees and costs.
On October 20, 2015, the undersigned convened a status conference to discuss Petitioner's pending fees and costs application. During the status conference, the undersigned informed the parties that she intends to compensate Mr. Homer and his firm's staff at the rates that were awarded in McCulloch. See Order, filed October 21, 2015, at 1-2. The undersigned directed Petitioner's counsel to draft a decision that incorporates the McCulloch rates and the reductions in compensable hours that the undersigned listed during the conference. Petitioner filed his draft, along with a supplemental brief regarding expert costs, on October 27, 2015. On November 5, 2015, Respondent's counsel communicated informally to the undersigned's staff that Respondent does not intend to file a response to Petitioner's draft.
This matter is now ripe for a decision.
The undersigned acknowledges Respondent's continued objections to the McCulloch rates but remains in agreement with McCulloch's outcome. The undersigned also acknowledges Respondent's objections to the redundancy associated with time expended by Mr. Homer in reviewing court orders and in calendaring tasks. Generally, the undersigned has reservations about compensating multiple attorneys for time spent working on a single case. Despite these reservations, the undersigned will compensate Mr. Homer for his time, in part because he is the managing partner of his firm, and in part because he is the attorney of record in this case. Of the 7.4 hours Mr. Homer billed in the instant case, the undersigned hereby reduces his compensable time by 2 hours, allowing a total of 5.4 hours. This amounts to a reduction of $800.00 from Petitioner's application.4
The undersigned is also reducing the compensable hours expended by Ms. Fashano5, an attorney, in researching the medical literature and in reviewing the expert reports. While these tasks are compensable, the undersigned agrees with Respondent that Ms. Fashano's time is excessive and reduces it accordingly. Of the 117.2 hours Ms. Fashano billed to this case, the undersigned hereby reduces her compensable time by 20 hours, allowing a total of 95.3 hours. This is a reduction of $5,080.00 from petitioner's application.6
Finally, the undersigned agrees with Respondent that the 39 hours expended by Dr. Morgan, Petitioner's expert, in preparing two expert reports, was excessive. Accordingly, the undersigned is reducing his compensable hours by 14 hours, allowing a total of 25 hours for the expert to review the case file, research the medical literature, and prepare two medical expert reports.7 This amounts to a reduction of $5,600.00 from Petitioner's application.8
Accordingly, Petitioner's compensation for attorneys' fees and costs is reduced by $11,480.00.
In addition, the undersigned awards compensation for 1.5 hours of attorney time, expended by Christina Ciampolillo at an hourly rate of $300.00, for her preparation for the substantive status conference held on October 20, 2015, and for the submission of a draft decision on attorneys' fees and costs. This amounts to an additional $450.00.
The Vaccine Act permits an award of reasonable attorneys' fees and costs. 42 U.S.C. § 300 aa-15(e). Based on the reasonableness of the majority of Petitioner's request, the undersigned GRANTS Petitioner's second amended application for payment of attorneys' fees and costs with a reduction in the number of compensable hours.
Accordingly, the undersigned awards:
A lump sum of $55,191.34, representing reimbursement for attorneys' fees and costs, in the form of a check payable jointly to Petitioner, Stephen Houck, and Petitioner's counsel, Ronald Homer, of the law firm of Conway, Homer & Chin-Caplan, P.C.
In the absence of a motion for review filed pursuant to RCFC Appendix B, the clerk of the court SHALL ENTER JUDGMENT in accordance with this decision.9
IT IS SO ORDERED.
