Filed: Jun. 21, 2017
Latest Update: Jun. 21, 2017
Summary: OPINION AND ORDER 1 SHERI POLSTER CHAPPELL , District Judge . This matter comes before the Court on Defendants' Motion to Partially Lift Asset Freeze to Release Funds for Attorneys' Fees. (Doc. 64). Plaintiffs have filed a Response in Opposition to Defendants' Motion (Doc. 67), to which they have replied (Doc. 68). 2 For the following reasons, the Court grants Defendants' motion. The parties are well-versed in the facts and procedural history of this case, and they need not be detailed
Summary: OPINION AND ORDER 1 SHERI POLSTER CHAPPELL , District Judge . This matter comes before the Court on Defendants' Motion to Partially Lift Asset Freeze to Release Funds for Attorneys' Fees. (Doc. 64). Plaintiffs have filed a Response in Opposition to Defendants' Motion (Doc. 67), to which they have replied (Doc. 68). 2 For the following reasons, the Court grants Defendants' motion. The parties are well-versed in the facts and procedural history of this case, and they need not be detailed a..
More
OPINION AND ORDER1
SHERI POLSTER CHAPPELL, District Judge.
This matter comes before the Court on Defendants' Motion to Partially Lift Asset Freeze to Release Funds for Attorneys' Fees. (Doc. 64). Plaintiffs have filed a Response in Opposition to Defendants' Motion (Doc. 67), to which they have replied (Doc. 68).2 For the following reasons, the Court grants Defendants' motion.
The parties are well-versed in the facts and procedural history of this case, and they need not be detailed at length here. As indicated, Defendants move the Court to partially lift the asset freeze in order to release funds for past and future anticipated reasonable attorneys' fees, or, alternatively, to permit Nicholson & Eastin, LLP to withdraw as counsel. Although the Court has released $10,000 for Defendants to retain counsel and $21,500 for their living expenses, it will exercise its discretion to release an additional $50,000 to cover past and future reasonable attorneys' fees. See FTC v. RCA Credit Services, LLC, No. 8:08-cv-2062-T-27MAP, 2008 WL 5428039 (M.D. Fla. Dec. 31, 2008) (stating that, as a corollary to the district court's statutory authority to temporarily freeze assets, it "may also release or lower the amount of assets frozen" (citation omitted)). To date, defense counsel, among other things, has prepared for and defended a motion for preliminary injunction, investigated the allegations and evidence, and negotiated with the FTC and the Receiver during the agency's investigation. At this stage, the Court finds the request for $50,000 in past and future legal fees to be reasonable. In fact, the Receiver's counsel has already accrued at least $25,000 in legal fees.
It is not lost on the Court that Defendants' assets may fall short of the amount needed to compensate consumers for their losses. But, based on the evidence at the preliminary injunction hearing, Defendants have not procured all their assets through ill-gotten gains, and they should have legitimately-earned resources to defend themselves in this action.
Accordingly, it is now
ORDERED:
Defendants' Motion to Partially Lift Asset Freeze to Release Funds for Attorneys' Fees is GRANTED. (Doc. 64). The Court DIRECTS the release of $50,000 for Defendants to pay for reasonable past and future attorneys' fees.
DONE and ORDERED.
