Filed: Oct. 03, 2019
Latest Update: Oct. 03, 2019
Summary: ORDER ON PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR ATTORNEY'S FEES JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR. , District Judge . Plaintiff moves for an award of attorney's fees against a defaulted defendant. The Court grants a portion of Plaintiff's motion and reserves ruling on a further portion pending additional explanation. I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY The procedural history for this action is described through August 8, 2019, in the Court's August 27, 2019, Decision and Order, and familiarity with that Decision and Order is assum
Summary: ORDER ON PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR ATTORNEY'S FEES JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR. , District Judge . Plaintiff moves for an award of attorney's fees against a defaulted defendant. The Court grants a portion of Plaintiff's motion and reserves ruling on a further portion pending additional explanation. I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY The procedural history for this action is described through August 8, 2019, in the Court's August 27, 2019, Decision and Order, and familiarity with that Decision and Order is assume..
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ORDER ON PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR ATTORNEY'S FEES
JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR., District Judge.
Plaintiff moves for an award of attorney's fees against a defaulted defendant. The Court grants a portion of Plaintiff's motion and reserves ruling on a further portion pending additional explanation.
I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY
The procedural history for this action is described through August 8, 2019, in the Court's August 27, 2019, Decision and Order, and familiarity with that Decision and Order is assumed. Decision and Order at 1-5 (ECF No. 86). That decision and order granted Sea Salt, LLC's (Sea Salt) Motion for Entry of Default Judgment, Mot. for Entry of Default J. (ECF No. 41), and directed the clerk of court to enter final judgment for Sea Salt and against East End Transport, LLC (East End) in the amount of $4,500,000. Decision and Order at 9. The Order stated that it would be "subject to a further order and judgment on attorney's fees," and ordered Sea Salt to "file an amended application for attorney's fees by August 29, 2019." Id. On August 28, 2019, the clerk of court entered default judgment for Sea Salt and against East End. Default J. (ECF No. 87).
On August 29, 2019, Sea Salt filed a motion for attorney's fees, Pl.'s Mot. for Att'y's Fees (ECF No. 88), along with a supplemental fee affidavit, id., Attach. 1, Suppl. Fee Aff. of Laura H. White, and a fee entry list, id., Attach. 2, Fee Entry List by Client.
II. ANALYSIS
Attorney's fees are available to Sea Salt in this action because one of the claims defaulted by East End was brought under 18 U.S.C. § 1962, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Notice of Removal, Attach. 2, First Amended Compl. ¶¶ 178-80 (ECF No. 1). Attorney's fees are available to successful plaintiffs in RICO actions. § 1964(c). At the hearing on damages that took place August 8, 2019, the Court informed counsel for Sea Salt of three potential issues with Sea Salt's request for attorney's fees. First, the Court pointed out that some of the hourly rates listed by counsel for Sea Salt in its Fee Affidavit, Pl.'s Mem. in Support of Default J., Attach. 2, Fee Aff. of Laura H. White (ECF No. 69-2), were higher than the rates authorized by the Court in TD Bank, N.A. v. Estate of Woodman, No. 17-cv-00163-JAW, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103940 (D. Me. June 21, 2019). Second, the Court requested an itemized list of billing entries to assure itself that the amount being billed did not reflect time spent pursuing defendants other than East End. Third, the Court noted that East End should not be charged for billing entries related to the August 8, 2019 hearing, which was necessitated by counsel for Sea Salt's inadvertent failure to give notice to East End of the June 17, 2019, hearing.1 After reviewing Sea Salt's Supplemental Fee Affidavit, the Court is satisfied that its first and third concerns have been rectified but requests further clarification with regard to its second concern.2
The Court grants the below list of billing entries, totaling $22,330.88, without further revision. Fee Entry List by Client.
Hrs to Modified
Date Tmkr Bill Amount Description
detailed review of UPS
shipping records compare excel
spreadsheet and client
7/20/2018 5 2.7 708.75 documents, email client
continue detail review of
weekly invoice, begin drafting
Breau Affidavit, emails and tc
7/22/2018 5 3.4 892.5 with client
continue drafting Breau
affidavit and related document
7/23/2018 5 1.8 472.5 review
review one drive documents,
create table of losses, review
recording, emails with client re
7/24/2018 5 2.9 761.25 same
cont. breau affidavit. Begin
McEwen affidavit, email
7/25/2018 5 1.2 315 clients re claims in complaint
review transcription of
recording. Compile documents
for Breau Affidavit Exhibits,
attention to litigation strategy,
begin highbarger and McKeller
7/26/2018 5 2.3 603.75 Affidavits
research re fiduciary duty,
Uniform Deceptive Trade
7/29/2018 5 1.5 393.75 Practices Act claim
review affidavits, draft motion
for attachment, brief legal
8/1/2018 27 6.1 1921.5 research
Correspondence with attorney
Rachin re filing and review of
all affidavit attachments,
review and revise final
complaint and motion for
8/2/2018 5 1.6 420 attachment
finalize all affidavits, review
and revise complaint, motion
for attachment, revise
complaint, exchange emails
8/2/2018 27 6.2 1953 with and TC with Breau
TC with York County clerk's
office, draft proposed order and
email clerk re: granting of
order of attachment. Office
8/3/2018 5 1.8 472.5 work re: recording same
Extensive telephone call with
Clerk's office re entry of ex
parte order TC and emals with
clients, Begin process of
8/6/2018 5 1.7 446.25 serving trustee summonses
TC with various banks re
trustee summonses.
Correspondence with client re
8/8/2018 5 0.8 210 same
telephone and email
correspondence with client,
email from opposing counsel,
continued monitoring of
8/9/2018 5 1.4 367.5 trustee summonses
office work re additional
trustee summonses and UCC
8/10/2018 5 0.5 131.25 filing
email correspondence and
office work re: additional
receipt of trustee summonses.
TC and emails with opposing
8/13/2018 5 0.6 157.5 counsel
Emails with Clerk and office
9/10/2018 5 0.6 157.5 work re: trustee summonses.
Continue drafting and
research re: amended
9/27/2018 5 1.6 420 complaint.
Telephone conference with
client. Research re: claims and
10/3/2018 5 2.6 682.5 finalize amended complaint.
Office work re: removal to
10/10/2018 5 1.2 315 federal court.
UCC search for East End
3/6/2019 37 0.4 73.5 Transport LLC
motion for default judgment
4/4/2019 37 1.2 220.5 against East End
Draft and file motion for
default judgment and related
4/5/2019 5 1.7 446.25 affidavit. Related office work.
Attention to amending motion
4/9/2019 5 0.6 157.5 for default/entry of default.
email correspondence re
4/9/2019 37 0.2 36.75 motion for entry of default
Telephone conference with
clerk re motion for default,
motion for entry of default and
affidavit in support of Motion
4/12/2019 37 1 183.75 of Entry of Default
4/12/2019 37 0.3 55.125 entry of appearance
Draft motion for entry of
default and affidavit; related
4/17/2019 5 0.9 236.25 office work.
Correspondence with Clerk
5/8/2019 5 0.3 78.75 and client re: hearing date.
interoffice work to prepare for
6/11/2019 37 3 551.25 hearing on damages
meeting in office with
clients/preparation for
6/11/2019 37 1.8 330.75 damages hearing
Continued hearing
6/13/2019 5 1.4 367.5 preparation.
pulling and organizing trial
6/13/2019 37 0.8 147 exhibits for damages
Email clerk re: hearing.
Prepare notebooks and
exhibits for hearing. Related
6/14/2019 5 4.7 1233.75 correspondence with client.
6/14/2019 27 1 315 Preparation for hearing.
assist Atty White with hearing
prep (East End Transport
6/14/2019 35 2 199.5 damages hearing)
research re reach of invocation
6/14/2019 37 0.3 55.125 of 5th in civil proceedings
6/14/2019 37 1 183.75 prep documents for trial binder
research and preparation for
6/14/2019 37 1.5 275.625 damages, punis and treble
document preparation for
6/15/2019 37 1.5 275.625 damages hearing
reviewing documents,
preparing outline for McEwen
6/15/2019 37 1.5 275.625 testimony
Extensive review of exhibits
and preparation for hearing;
outline of direct examination
6/16/2019 5 10.4 2730 and emails to client re: same.
research redaction
requirement under FRCP and
6/16/2019 37 0.4 73.5 redacted exhibits
research into 5th amendment
waiver after defendant opens
the door with testimony about
6/16/2019 37 0.6 110.25 non collateral matters
draft motion re punitive, treble
6/28/2019 37 3 551.25 and atty fees
Draft proposed judgment;
6/30/2019 5 3.8 997.5 research re: same.
email correspondence with
LHW re proposed order and
7/1/2019 37 0.2 36.75 motion for punitive damages
research re joint and several
7/1/2019 37 1.5 275.625 liability.
7/1/2019 37 0.3 55.125 lodestar research
TOTAL: $22,330.875
The Court does not have sufficient information to rule on the remaining entries. Many of the billing entries do not make explicit how they relate to East End; other individual billing entries contain multiple tasks, and it is not clear on the face of those entries how much time was spent on tasks related specifically to East End. See Estate of Woodman, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103940, at *6-7 ("The Court reviewed the hours billed by Plaintiff's counsel for legal services outside the flat fee agreement and finds that TD Bank has not demonstrated a sufficient demarcation between legal services relating to the foreclosure and those relating to the partition action . . .. Although the work performed appears to relate in part to the foreclosure action, at least part of the entry reflects research on bringing a partition action in Maine, an issue unrelated to the foreclosure claim. Because the tasks were grouped under a single time entry, rather than being properly divided between partition-related and foreclosure-related tasks, the Court cannot award a fee based on these hours in the absence of an amended bill properly delineating between tasks for each claim").
Accordingly, Sea Salt is instructed to file a second amended application for attorney's fees laying out:
1. A brief explanation of the connection between the work done on each remaining billing entry and East End. Where, upon request of the Court, Sea Salt would not be able to provide the Court with records or evidence to authenticate that connection for a particular entry, that entry should be left out of the affidavit.
2. Where billing entries contain multiple tasks, a brief explanation of which relate to East End. The requested fees associated with each entry should only reflect work done to pursue claims against East End. Sea Salt may recover from East End fees for work performed in pursuit of claims against all or a subset of defendants equally so long as the tasks cannot be disaggregated.
To illustrate, if a timekeeper for Sea Salt spent five hours preparing summonses for each of the defendants, Sea Salt may not recover fees from East End for all five of those hours, but only for the time spent preparing the summons specifically for East End. Alternatively, if a timekeeper spent five hours working on the amended complaint filed in this case against all the defendants, Sea Salt may recover fees for all that time from East End.
Additionally, the Court requests that Sea Salt send a copy of any Microsoft Excel files that it subsequently files with the Court in connection with this application for attorney's fees to the clerk of court in Excel format.
III. CONCLUSION
The Court GRANTS in part Sea Salt, LLC's Motion for Attorney's Fees (ECF No. 88) for billing entries listed above totaling twenty-two thousand three hundred thirty dollars and eighty-eight cents, and DEFERS in part on the remainder of the billing entries submitted by Sea Salt, LLC pending the Court's review of a second amended application for attorney's fees.
The Court ORDERS Sea Salt, LLC to file a supplemental application for attorney's fees by October 17, 2019.
SO ORDERED.
