NELSON S. ROMAN, District Judge.
On February 11, 2010, Plaintiff Waterkeeper Alliance, Inc. ("Plaintiff'), commenced this action against Defendant Spirit of Utah Wilderness, Inc. ("Defendant"), alleging trademark infringement, unfair competition, and related New York State law claims. (Complaint, Feb. 11, 2010, ECF No. 1.) On May 8, 2015, this Court granted Plaintiff's application for default judgment against the Defendant, and subsequently referred this matter to Magistrate Judge Lisa M. Smith for an inquest regarding attorney's fees and costs. (Default Judgment and Order, May 8, 2015, ECF No. 100; see Order of Reference, May 11, 2015, ECF No. 99.) Pending before the Court is a Report and Recommendation ("R & R") dated September 14, 2016 and issued by Judge Smith pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b) and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 72(b). (ECF No. 127.) The R&R recommends that Plaintiff's application for fees be granted, and that Plaintiff be awarded $277,903.39 in attorney's fees. For the following reasons, the R&R is adopted in its entirety.
Over the course of this litigation, Plaintiff retained both Baker Botts LLP ("Baker Botts") and Wachtel Missry LLP ("Wachtel Missry"), as counsel. Baker Botts performed work for Plaintiff from October through November 2013. (See Plaintiffs Motion for Attorney's Fees, Ex. 2 at 6-12, ECF No. 110 [hereinafter "Pl.'s Mot. Fees"].) Wachtel Missry performed work for Plaintiff from October 2013 through June 2015. (Id. at 3.) On September 21, Plaintiff submitted an unopposed application for attorney's fees for services rendered by Baker Botts and Wachtel Missry during the course of this litigation. Plaintiff submitted billing records for both firms in support of its application. (Pl.'s Mot. Fees, Ex. 2-3.)
A magistrate judge may "hear a pretrial matter [that is] dispositive of a claim or defense" if so designated by a district court. Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b)(1). In such a case, the magistrate judge "must enter a recommended disposition, including, if appropriate, proposed findings of fact." Id.; accord 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). When reviewing a Report and Recommendation, a district court "may accept, reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the findings or recommendations made by the magistrate judge." 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C).
A district court may also "adopt those portions of the [Report] to which no objections have been made and which are not facially erroneous." West v. Sheahan, No. 12-CV-08270, 2016 WL 67789, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 4, 2016) (quoting Wilds v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., 262 F.Supp.2d 163, 170 (S.D.N.Y. 2003)). "To accept the report and recommendation of a magistrate, to which no timely objection has been made, a district court need only satisfy itself that there is no clear error on the face of the record." Wilds, 262 F. Supp. 2d at 169 (quoting Nelson v. Smith, 618 F.Supp. 1186, 1189 (S.D.N.Y. 1985)); see also Fed. R. Civ. P. 72 advisory committee note (same).
Here, as neither party objected to the R & R, the Court reviews the recommendation for clear error. The Court finds no error with the R & Ron the face of the record. The figures in the R & Rare supported by the record, the calculations are arithmetically correct, and the conclusions are supported in law, fact, and sound reasoning.
Based on prevailing law in the District, the R & R reasonably concludes that the hourly rates for partners Paul Reilly, John Reichman, and Julian Schreibman,
The R & R also correctly finds that the hourly rates of $150 and $125 for Wachtel Missry paralegals John McKay and Megan Rappa, respectively, were appropriate. As to Baker Botts paralegal John Mitchell, the Court finds no error in the R & R's conclusion that his hourly rate of $275 exceeded the typical range of rates for paralegals, or that a reduction to an hourly rate of $150 was appropriate.
Baker Botts seeks $40,042.50 for work performed over the course of October through November 2013. With the aforementioned fee adjustments for work performed by Ms. Lazo and Mr. Mitchell, the R & R reduces this fee to $28,130.
Wachtel Missry seeks $295,505.75 in attorney's fees for work completed over the course of October 2013 through June 2015. (See Pl.'s Mot. Fees, Ex. B., Declaration of Marc Yaggi, at 2.) The R & R correctly imposes a 15 percent reduction upon this fee to account for deficiencies in the firm's billing records, which include block entries, and vague narratives that make it difficult to determine the reasonableness of the amount of time expended on particular tasks. See Genger, 2015 WL 1011718, at *2 ("Across-the-board reductions in the range of 15% to 30% are appropriate when block billing is employed"); see also De La Paz v. Rubin & Rothman, LLC, No. 11-CV-9625-ER, 2013 WL 6184425, at *4 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 25, 2013) (reducing fee award by 30% across-the-board due to deficiencies in billing entries). With this 15 percent fee reduction, Plaintiff would receive an award in the amount of $251,179.89 (295,505.75 × .15 = 44,325.86; 295,505.75 - 44,325.86 = 251,179.89) in attorney's fees for work performed by Watchel Missry.
The R & R recommends that Plaintiff should be awarded attorney's fees in the amount of $277,903.39 ($251,179.89 for Wachtel Missry and $26,723.50 for Baker Botts).
For foregoing reasons, the Court adopts the R & R in its entirety and it is hereby
ORDERED that the Clerk of Court shall enter judgment for Plaintiff against Defendant for $277,903.39 in attorneys' fees and costs.