Opinion
99 Civ. 2310 (LAK)
May 22, 2000
ORDER
This matter is before the Court on plaintiff's motion for attorney's fees and taxable costs following a settlement of plaintiff's claim. Plaintiff seeks an award of $178,309.50 in respect of fees plus more than $13,000 in costs. Defendants contend that the fee request is excessive and that the settlement precludes an award of costs.
Attorney's Fees
1. The initial bone of contention with respect to the fee award is the reasonableness of the hourly rates, especially the hourly rates for Mr. Filippatos. Plaintiff's seek $290 per hour although they concede that the firm's ordinary charges for Mr. Filippatos' services were $240 per hour in 1999, rising to $290 per hour in 2000. The Court finds that $240 was the reasonable hourly rate for Mr. Filippatos' services throughout the litigation. The other hourly rates upon which the application is based are reasonable.
2. Defendants' attack on the specificity of the time records maintained by plaintiffs' counsel is meritless.
3. The Court is persuaded that the number of hours devoted to this action by plaintiffs' counsel was excessive. There was no substantial reason for devoting 77.9 hours (10.1 percent of the total time spent on the case) to discovery motions and 51.5 hours to preparation of the pretrial order. Moreover, the time spent on discovery was excessive due to the contentious relationship between counsel. Infra. Accordingly, the Court will reduce the lodestar by 20 percent.
4. The behavior of counsel in this case was exceptionally regrettable. Mr. Filippatos and Ms. Sharp (representing the defendants) were unable to get along on even the smallest matters. For example, counsel telephoned the Court during the deposition of the plaintiff because Ms. Sharp had become ill and could not continue, but Mr. Filippatos gracelessly took the position that she would surrender her opportunity to complete the deposition if she left before finishing. The Court reduces the lodestar another 5 percent to punish this behavior. This reduction is independent of the reduction for the excessive expenditure of time caused by incivility.
Accordingly, the Court finds that the lodestar prior to the foregoing reductions is $158,177.50. Taking the reductions into account, plaintiff is entitled to an award of attorney's fees of $118,633.12.
Costs
The parties settled this case on the basis that plaintiff's attorney's fees would be determined by the Court. The settlement otherwise was all inclusive. Plaintiff's application for costs therefore is denied.
Conclusion
Plaintiff's motion is granted to the extent that plaintiff shall recover of defendants a reasonable attorney's fee of $118,633.12 and denied in all other respects.
SO ORDERED.