Opinion
No. 03-3007.
April 10, 2008
OPINION
This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff's Supplemental Fee Petition (d/e 414). Plaintiff Rickey Davis is entitled to recover reasonable attorney fees from Defendant City of Springfield, Illinois (City). Opinion entered March 20, 2008 (d/e 411) (Opinion), at 4. Davis now files a Supplemental Fee Petition to recover the fees incurred litigating the attorney fee petition and the parties' requests for costs. Davis is entitled to recover the reasonable fees incurred in connection with this part of the proceeding. The Court previously set forth the principles for evaluating fee requests and will follow those principles here.See Opinion, at 4-6.
In this case, the City responded to Davis' fee petition with: (1) Defendants' Motion Regarding Apportionment of Costs (d/e 395); (2) its own Bill of Costs (d/e 394), and (3) Defendants' Response to Motion for Attorney Fees (d/e 399). Davis is entitled to recover the reasonable amount of attorney fees to respond to these filings by the City. Davis' attorneys billed 122.9 hours of attorney time and 16.3 hours of paralegal time, for a total of 139.2 hours, to respond to the City's filings and to amend Davis' original fee petition and bills of cost. Plaintiff's Supplemental Fee Petition (d/e 414), Exhibit A, at 4. The Court finds this amount to be excessive. Research to justify the fees originally sought should have been done before the original fee petition was filed. The Court already allowed over 20 hours of attorney time and over 3 hours of paralegal time to research and prepare the original fee petition and bill of costs. Plaintiff's Motion for Attorneys Fees and Costs (d/e 391), Exhibit B, Billing Statement of Rhode and Jackson, P.C., at 12-13. Davis' attorneys should not have needed more than an additional 20 hours of attorney time and 5 hours of paralegal time to research the additional issues raised by the City's filings, prepare responses, and prepare the supplemental fee petition.
The Court, therefore, allows 10 hours of attorney time at attorney Rhode's rate of $250.00 per hour, and 10 hours at the rate of $155.00 per hour, which is the average between the rates allowed for attorneys Jackson and Newton. See Opinion, at 7-8. The Court also allows 5 hours of paralegal time at the approved rate of $75.00 per hour. Id. The total supplemental fees allowed are:
10 hours at $250.00 per hour $2,500.00 10 hours at $155.00 per hour $1,550.00 5 hours at $75.00 per hour $ 375.00 Total $4,425.00 THEREFORE, Plaintiff Rickey Davis' Supplemental Fee Petition (d/e 414) is ALLOWED in part. The Court awards additional attorneys' fees in favor of Plaintiff Rickey Davis and against Defendant City of Springfield, Illinois, in the sum of $4,425.00. All other pending motions in this case are denied as moot. This case is closed.
IT IS THEREFORE SO ORDERED.