Interstate Indemnity Co. v. Black

Full title: INTERSTATE INDEMNITY COMPANY, Plaintiff v. DAN BLACK, Defendant

Court: United States District Court, M.D. North Carolina

Date published: Feb 11, 2004

1:02CV01069 (M.D.N.C. Feb. 11, 2004)

Opinion

1:02CV01069

February 11, 2004

SANCTION AWARD

PAUL TREVOR SHARP, Magistrate Judge

On October 24, 2003, the Court entered an Order Compelling Discovery and Imposing Sanctions upon Interstate Indemnity Company. (Pleading No. 30.) The Court deferred setting the amount of the sanction award until it received Defendant's affidavit of attorney's fees and costs, and Plaintiff's response thereto. Further, the Court noted that its award would await final judgment in the case. The parties have now advised that they have settled all matters in dispute in this litigation, except for the amount of sanctions against Interstate under the October 24, 2003 Order. The parties have stipulated that their settlement agreement constitutes "final judgment" and the Court should now determine the amount of the discovery sanction to be paid by Plaintiff Interstate to Defendant Black.

In its Order of October 24, 2003, the Court found Plaintiff's discovery failures to be wholly unjustified under the test of Rule 37(a)(4) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. By affidavit of counsel, Defendant has shown that it incurred attorney's fees of $6,242.00 and costs of $302.30 in securing the order compelling discovery. Plaintiff argues in response that these amounts are excessive. Plaintiff says that the claimed 43.4 hours of attorney work for preparation and argument of the motion to compel "strains credulity . . ." (Pleading No. 32, Pl.'s Mem. at 1.) Plaintiff also contends that complete relief was not granted to Defendant under its motion to compel, and that fact should lead to a reduced award.

On review, the Court finds that the time spent by Defendant's counsel in preparing and arguing the motion to compel was reasonable, the hourly fees charged by Defendant's counsel were reasonable in light of their experience and expertise, and the costs incurred in the motion were reasonable. The Court does find, however, that although the Court upheld Defendant's position on six interrogatories, the Court found two of Defendant's interrogatories to be over broad. In applying Rule 37(a)(4), the Court determines that Defendant should be awarded seventy-five percent (75%) of its attorney's fees and costs in securing the order compelling discovery.

Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff Interstate shall pay to Defendant Black, as a Rule 37(a)(4) discovery sanction, the sum of $4,908.23.