ROBERT J. CONRAD, JR., District Judge.
Plaintiff RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing Corporation ("Plaintiff" or "RoundPoint") and Defendant Five Brothers Mortgage Co. Services & Securing, Inc. ("Defendant" or "Five Brothers") dispute which of the parties should pay for which legal fees pursuant to an indemnification clause contained in a contract between RoundPoint, Five Brothers, and 24 Asset Management. RoundPoint and Five Brothers had a contract called the Tri-Party Field Services Agreement (the "Contract"), (Pl. Ex. 2). Under the Contract, Five Brothers was to perform inspections and property preservation on properties for which RoundPoint had provided loan services. Litigation ("Hayes Litigation") arose related to one of the properties in 2013 when a property owner filed a lawsuit against several parties including RoundPoint and Five Brothers. Both RoundPoint and Five Brothers retained their own counsel and bore their own legal fees. The issue at hand is the amount Five Brothers must indemnify RoundPoint for costs RoundPoint incurred in defending itself in the Hayes Litigation. Following a bench trial on July 18 and 19, 2017, the Court makes the following Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, ultimately concluding that Five Brothers owes RoundPoint $153,107.16 in legal fees incurred during the Hayes Litigation.
RoundPoint is a mortgage servicer based out of Charlotte, North Carolina. (Trial Transcript at 8 (hereinafter "Tr.")). Five Brothers provides property preservation services nationwide. (
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In January 2010, RoundPoint informed Ms. Hayes—who owned a condominium in Wilson, NC—that her loan was in default. (Pl. Ex. 1 at ¶¶19, 33). According to Ms. Hayes' complaint, she negotiated a repayment plan with RoundPoint, which she subsequently honored. Ms. Hayes stated that RoundPoint nonetheless instituted a foreclosure action, obtained a foreclosure, and proceeded with plans to sell Ms. Hayes' condo. (
Ms. Hayes alleged that she continued to make mortgage payments as scheduled but endured "incomprehensible errors by Defendant RoundPoint in properly crediting her mortgage payments and in continuing to pursue foreclosure proceedings that [Ms. Hayes] had been assured were abated as a result of her compliance with the repayment plan . . . ." (
Part and parcel to foreclosing on Ms. Hayes' condo, RoundPoint, on behalf of SHCU, attempted to secure the condo through Five Brothers and its agent, Douglas Allan Stuart ("Stuart"), which Ms. Hayes' alleged amounted to trespassing. (
On August 21, 2013 Ms. Hayes filed a lawsuit against SHCU, RoundPoint, Five Brothers, and Mr. Stuart—the Hayes Litigation. (Pl. Exs. 1, 16);
Five Brothers filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings and RoundPoint and SHCU jointly did the same. On August 22, 2014, the Court issued an order wherein it partially granted and partially denied both motions. (Pl. Ex. 17). Following motions to dismiss and motions for summary judgment, only a claim of trespass against all defendants for the March 17, 2013 property-preservation visit remained. The lawsuit settled for a total of $15,500 with $5,000 each from Five Brothers, Mr. Stuart, and RoundPoint and SHCU collectively. RoundPoint and SHCU contributed an additional $500 after further settlement discussions. (
After RoundPoint sent two demand letters, Five Brothers refused to indemnify RoundPoint so the parties unsuccessfully attempted to mediate their dispute. Consequently, RoundPoint filed this lawsuit containing a single claim for breach of contract on November 18, 2015 seeking damages for the $5,500 settlement amount and the $381,403.16 it incurred in legal expenses and costs in defense of the Hayes Litigation. (Doc. No. 1; Doc. No. 54 at 14). On January 20, 2016, Five Brothers filed an answer, counterclaim, and indemnification demand seeking reimbursement for Five Brothers' expenses in the Hayes Litigation. (Doc. No. 8). On December 16, 2016, Plaintiff RoundPoint moved for summary judgment in its favor. (Doc. No. 53). Five Brothers timely filed an opposition brief and RoundPoint timely filed a reply brief. (Doc. Nos. 56 and 57). On March 6, 2017, this Court heard oral arguments on RoundPoint's Motion and partially granted the Motion—specifically, granting RoundPoint's Motion regarding Five Brothers' counterclaim and indemnification demand. In a subsequent written order, the Court partially granted and partially denied RoundPoint's Motion for Summary Judgment. (Doc. No. 61). Specifically, the Court held that RoundPoint is entitled to indemnification by Five Brothers for RoundPoint's legal fees incurred defending itself and settling Counts 6-19 in the Hayes Litigation as a matter of law. (
The Court conducted a two-day bench trial on July 18-19, 2017. Over the course of the proceedings, the Court heard testimony from five witnesses: Nathan Boucher, General Counsel for RoundPoint; Tom Kalas, General Counsel for Five Brothers; Christi Hunoval, Partner at Hunoval Law Firm; Jeffery Bunda, Associate at Hutches Law Firm; and Jonathan Buchan, who provided expert testimony. Additionally, the Court received thirty-one exhibits into evidence. (Doc. No. 79). In reaching a determination on the amount Five Brothers must indemnify RoundPoint, the Court has considered all the testimony and evidence presented and has taken into consideration the credibility of the witnesses and relevance and weight of the evidence.
The remaining legal disputes in this matter boil down to two questions: (1) what is the scope of the indemnification clause; and (2) what constitutes reasonable attorney fees under the circumstances. Ultimately, the Court concludes that the indemnification clause does not provide for the full indemnification of all legal fees incurred defending the Hayes Litigation that RoundPoint seeks. Rather, some of the legal fees sought are clearly excluded by the plain language of the Contract. Because the extensive legal invoices can't be easily parsed, the Court will utilize the lodestar method to determine the reasonable amount of legal fees that Five Brothers owes RoundPoint pursuant to the indemnification clause.
Pursuant to the terms of the Contract, New York law governs the alleged breach of contract claim at issue. Under New York law, a "written agreement that is complete, clear and unambiguous on its face must be enforced according to the plain meaning of its terms."
The indemnification clause in the Contract is not ambiguous and therefore will be applied using the plain meaning of its terms. Among other things, the indemnification clause is thorough and details what liabilities are covered, what actions Five Brothers is responsible for, and what entities and people are covered. Both the Contract and the clause are clear, complete, and unambiguous—which one would expect from two sophisticated business entities such as the parties here.
The disputed clause in this case is similar to the indemnification clause at issue in
Under the plain meaning of the words in the indemnification clause, the Court finds that the indemnification clause requires Five Brothers to indemnify RoundPoint for reasonable fees and expenses incurred in the Hayes Litigation related to Ms. Hayes' fourth cause of action, in addition to reasonable fees and expenses incurred defending Causes of Action 6-19 from the Hayes Litigation, which the Court found Five Brothers liable for on summary judgment. The clause does not, however, impose on Five Brothers an obligation to indemnify RoundPoint for fees and expenses incurred related to Causes of Action 1, 2, 3, and 5; incurred in providing a defense of SHCU; or incurred litigating the related foreclosure proceeding.
Although Ms. Hayes only asserted the fourth cause of action—breach of contract and implied covenants—against RoundPoint and SHCU, the language of the claim clearly encompasses Five Brothers, its conduct, and the conduct of its agents, specifically Mr. Stuart. For example, as part of her breach of contract and implied covenants claim, Ms. Hayes alleged that RoundPoint and SHCU breached their contract by "improperly foreclosing upon and unlawfully selling [her] home, as well as hiring agents to defame [her], trespass upon her lands twice, break into her home twice, and lock her out twice." (Pl. Ex. 1 ¶113). Because this claim related to the lockouts, i.e. Five Brothers' (and its agent's) conduct, Five Brothers must indemnify RoundPoint for expenses it incurred defending itself against the fourth cause of action.
Unlike Ms. Hayes' Fourth Cause of Action and the causes of action explicitly asserted against Five Brothers, the conduct alleged in Ms. Hayes' First, Second, Third, and Fifth Causes of Action are not "arising from or in any way connected with Five Brothers." Not only were these claims not asserted against Five Brothers, they in no way related to Five Brothers or its agents. The First and Second Causes of Action—Wrongful Foreclosure and Attempted Wrongful Foreclosure—are on their face related to the foreclosure process, a process that involved RoundPoint and SHCU, but not Five Brothers. Similarly, Ms. Hayes' Third and Fifth Causes of Action, for Abuse of Process and Unjust Enrichment, both related to the maintenance of Ms. Hayes' mortgage, including collection of payments and the foreclosure proceedings. Yet again, neither of these claims is connected with Five Brothers or relates to its conduct as required under the indemnification clause in the Contract.
RoundPoint contends that the entire Hayes' Litigation was precipitated by the two trespasses, which are connected to Five Brothers' conduct, and therefore, Five Brothers should bear the full financial responsibility of indemnifying RoundPoint for all causes of action in the Hayes Litigation. This line of reasoning is neither borne out by the facts nor supported by the language of the Contract. Although criticized by the Court in the Hayes Litigation for being too "colorful" and relying on "adjectives not arguments," the language used by the lawyers is instructive for our purposes. (Pl. Ex. 17);
Additionally excluded from indemnification under the plain meanings of the terms in the Contract are the fees and expenses RoundPoint incurred defending SHCU against the claims in the Hayes Litigation. Not only was SHCU not a party to the Contract, RoundPoint openly admitted at trial and prior to trial that the indemnification clause did not explicitly cover fees incurred by SHCU. The indemnification clause enumerated the recipients of indemnification: "24 Asset and RoundPoint and each of their respective affiliates, subsidiaries, employees, officers, directors, members, owners, shareholders, representatives and agents." (Pl. Ex. 2 at 5). According to RoundPoint's General Counsel, SHCU was none of these. (Tr. at 89). Nonetheless, RoundPoint argues that it should be reimbursed for the fees related to SHCU's defense because they were fees incurred by RoundPoint, and thus fall under the language of the Contract. The Court cannot adopt this strained interpretation. Given the clarity with which the contracting parties enumerated the relationships covered by the indemnification clause, the Court must interpret the clause under the plain meaning and not infer any other relationships to fall under this provision. Furthermore, RoundPoint's interpretation would lead to absurd results. Under RoundPoint's view, RoundPoint could choose to pay for any and all legal expenses of any and all parties, and could force Five Brothers to indemnify RoundPoint for those expenses so long as there was some connection to Five Brothers. Lastly, RoundPoint's intent and understanding of the Contract—which RoundPoint argues supports full indemnification of RoundPoint for fees incurred defending SHCU—are irrelevant because the words of the Contract are not ambiguous.
A third category of fees for which RoundPoint seeks indemnification, but for which it is not entitled, is fees incurred related to the separate foreclosure proceeding instituted against Ms. Hayes. On June 9, 2010, RoundPoint filed a foreclosure action against Ms. Hayes because she was in default on her mortgage. As the Hayes Litigation subsequently progressed, RoundPoint apparently used the foreclosure action, specifically an amended notice of foreclosure sale, as leverage against Ms. Hayes in the Hayes Litigation—hoping that it could be used to force her to drop or settle the claims against RoundPoint. While this may indeed have been RoundPoint's litigation strategy, it does not entitle RoundPoint to reimbursement from Five Brothers. The foreclosure proceeding was a separate action that did not involve Five Brothers and began well before Five Brothers entered into the Contract with RoundPoint. Simply put, the costs RoundPoint incurred in this foreclosure proceeding are outside the scope of the Contract and need not be indemnified under the plain meaning of the terms in the Contract.
Under federal law, courts are to consider the following factors when determining whether fees are reasonable:
"Hours that are `excessive, redundant, or otherwise unnecessary,' are to be excluded, and in dealing with such surplusage, the court has discretion simply to deduct a reasonable percentage of the number of hours claims `as a practical means of trimming fat from a fee application.'"
In determining the amount of reasonable fees this Court will not place itself in the shoes of RoundPoint's General Counsel to complete the task of line-by-line analysis that should have been done upon the receipt of the bill. This Court's duty is to determine what is reasonable based on the evidence presented and its understanding of the case.
The Court first turns to the lodestar method as recommended by the Supreme Court in
As made clear through Hunoval's billing invoices and the related-testimony, some hours reflected in the billing were excessive. For instance, there were multiple billers expending lengthy amounts of time just to view pleadings. (Tr. at 206-08). In another example, Hunoval billed "8.6 hours of work for a two paragraph letter citing two rules of civil procedure." (Tr. 237-41). Such billing creates calls into question the reasonableness of the billing.
Additionally, the Court considers the amount of hours expended and fees paid by the other defendants who ultimately defended against the same claims in the Hayes Litigation. Five Brothers incurred $54,630.30 defending themselves and $72,168.89 in defending Mr. Stuart from the same claim. RoundPoint incurred over $381,000 in defending its claim. Despite RoundPoint's position that this is merely a trespass case, not even Mr. Bouche would pay $381,000 for a trespass case. The Court finds that a deduction in total fees is appropriate given the amount of excessive and redundant billing that pervades the Hunoval invoices. At the same time, the Court concludes that Hunoval's rates were reasonable, including the $265 per hour billed by Ms. Hunoval.
When analyzing the hours of work billed by Hunoval in light of the multiple duplicate entries, the separate foreclosure action, defense of SHCU, and excessive padding, the Court finds it is reasonable to reduce the hours billed from 1,900 to 400 hours. This amount is equal to the most time billed by another party in representing a defendant in the Hayes Litigation. The rate of $265 is a reasonable rate as noted by Mr. Buchan. Applying a $265 per hour rate to 400 hours using the lodestar method results in a total of $106,000.00 in attorney fees. Since Hunoval, on behalf of RoundPoint, took the lead in the Hayes Litigation, the Court will apply a 25% increase in fees awarded to compensate for that role, putting total fees at $132,500.00. Additionally, RoundPoint is entitled to indemnification for the costs associated with the litigation.