Opinion
17-cv-9215 (LAK)
12-17-2019
STEVE SANDS, Plaintiff, v. BAUER MEDIA GROUP USA, LLC, Defendant.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
LEWIS A. KAPLAN, District Judge.
On September 18, 2019, the Court ordered Mr. Richard Liebowitz, counsel for plaintiff, to pay defendant's reasonable attorneys' fees for making and litigating its motion for sanctions [DI-56]. Defense counsel submitted its timesheets along with several declarations in support of its fee petition [DI-65, 80]. These documents asserted that defense counsel billed 116.8 hours at a blended rate of $326.11 per hour - a total of $38,090 - in connection with the sanctions motion. Plaintiff argues that defense counsel's hours are excessive and that Mr. Liebowitz should be required to pay no more than $5,625, or 15 hours at $375 per hour [DI-79].
It is unclear why he argues for a higher rate than defense counsel in fact billed. --------
The Court has carefully considered the parties' submissions, in particular defense counsel's timesheets. It finds that defense counsel's hours are unreasonably high relative to the amount of work one would be expected to perform in prosecuting the sanctions motion. The Court finds it proper to reduce defense counsel's hours by 25%, from 116.8 to 87.6. At the rate of $326.11 per hour, this comes to $28,567.50. Mr. Liebowitz is ordered to pay this amount to defense counsel.
SO ORDERED. Dated: December 17, 2019
/s/_________
Lewis A. Kaplan
United States District Judge