Browning Debenture Holders' Committee v. Dasa Corp.

81 F.R.D. 407, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17567
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Browning Debenture Holders' Committee v. Dasa Corp.. Read the opinion of the Court — 454 F. Supp. 88
District Court, S.D. New York·Decided May 24, 1978·No. No. 72 Civ. 1332·Published

Opinion

[409]*409OPINION AND ORDER

OWEN, District Judge.

The issues in this action having been fully resolved adversely to plaintiffs after trial, 431 F.Supp. 959 (S.D.N.Y.1976) and on appeal, 560 F.2d 1078 (2d Cir. 1977), there is before me on remand from the Court of Appeals the sole remaining matter of the redetermination of attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses due defendants, in accordance with the Court’s instructions as set forth at 560 F.2d 1078, 1087-89.

The underlying records concerning such fees and expenses were duly before me at the hearing held on November 22, 1976, at which time appropriate witnesses testified and the plaintiffs had full opportunity to, and did, exercise the right of cross-examination. There have been extensive subsequent submissions by all parties to this court upon remand.

Turning first to the fees to be awarded to The Bank of New York, the award is to be limited to the cost of services and research reasonably required to obtain a dismissal by the Bank at the earliest reasonable time. I do not deem this direction to mean that attorneys for the Bank, while endeavoring to determine the best way out, may not be recompensed pursuant to § 10.11 of the trust indenture,1 as authorized by § 315(e) of the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, 15 U.S.C. § 77ooo(e), for appropriately dealing with matters that press upon the litigation scene as a case of this type sweeps down the path. An attorney’s duty to a client certainly requires the protection of the client’s entire interests while procedural steps are being weighed and their timing determined.

From the computer printout based on the underlying time sheets of Sullivan & Cromwell, the Bank’s attorneys, it appears that from the filing of the action until its eventual dismissal as to the Bank in May of 1975, the partner in charge, Edward W. Keane, and an experienced associate, David M. Olasov, were carrying the bulk of the defense, and that a total of 226 hours were spent to obtain dismissal. This total includes early efforts to deal with a class action motion and appeal, with a motion for summary judgment by plaintiffs on two counts, and with customary discovery matters, all of which required the not-unreasonable expenditure of 176 hours — by no means an excessive amount of time. While a motion for summary judgment in its favor was considered by the Bank early in the case, it was not made the subject of a. motion because of Keane’s and Olasov’s concern over the legal precedents in this circuit routinely denying summary judgment in the absence of discovery by the plaintiffs. While plaintiffs had indeed in January 1973 obtained a “delay for discovery . . . ” 560 F.2d at 1082, 1088, they never undertook it. It is thus noteworthy that from the time it presumably became clear that discovery would not be undertaken — five months later in May of 1973 — only 50 more hours were yet to be expended by Sullivan & Cromwell before the Bank was out. This equivalent of one more week’s hard work was hardly unreasonable.2

This court has no hesitation in concluding that the total of 226 hours spent by attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell is clearly reasonable and effected a dismissal in all the circumstances at the earliest reasonable moment. I award the Bank $12,500 in attor[410]*410neys’ fees under this rubric. This works out to an average of some $55 per hour— hardly an excessive hourly rate for a firm of the standing of Sullivan & Cromwell, having in mind the expertise required. See Leighton v. New York, Susquehanna and Western R. Co., 455 F.2d 389, 392 & n. 5 (2d Cir. 1972).

In addition, I reaffirm that the threat in April and May 1975 to depose numerous officers of the Bank was a groundless, bad faith procedural move by attorney Bradley Brewer, which finding was the subject of specific affirmance by the Court of Appeals. 560 F.2d at 1089. This threat reasonably required, so the records reveal, the additional expenditure of 10 hours by Mr. Olasov.3 I hereby award an additional $500 in counsel fees to the Bank for meeting this bad faith move.

Finally, affidavits show that from the commencement of this lawsuit until the Bank was out, the Bank’s attorneys accumulated the extremely moderate sum of $205.40 in litigation-related expenses, and I award that additional sum to the Bank. I decline the Bank’s request for a supplementary award for “stenographic services,” which I deem to be a part of normal overhead; in addition, I decline to award expenses accumulated after the dismissal of the complaint as against the Bank, because of the difficulty in attributing such expenses to specific bad faith procedural moves.

Thus the total award of fees and expenses to The Bank of New York is $13,-205.40.

Turning to the awards to be made to defendants DASA Corporation and Arthur Andersen & Co., I am guided by the following passage from the Court of Appeals’ remand order:

The court’s award of attorneys’ fees to DASA and Andersen based on procedural bad faith or harassment . . . stands on a different footing. There was ample evidence to support a finding that Bradley Brewer acted in bad faith in taking some procedural steps (e. g., the appeal of mooted issues, the delay for discovery never undertaken, the motion for reargument made 5V2 months after denial of appellants’ motion for summary judgment, the making of frivolous motions for summary judgment against the Bank and Andersen, the motion to add parties on the basis of a misleading page of a letter taken out of context, the dragnet subpoenas served on Andersen and others, the threats to depose numerous Bank officers, etc.). However, in an action not itself brought in bad faith, an award of attorneys’ fees should be limited to those expenses reasonably incurred to meet the other party’s groundless, bad faith procedural moves. No attempt was made below to relate claimed expenses, costs, and fees to particular bad faith maneuvers. See In re Boston & Providence R.R. Corp., 501 F.2d 545, 550 (1st Cir. 1974). Accordingly, we remand for more specific findings as to those procedural motions or other actions undertaken in bad faith, without justification or for an improper purpose, such as harassment or delay, and as to the expenses, costs, and attorneys’ fees reasonably incurred by the opposing party or parties in meeting such improper motions, actions, or delays.

560 F.2d at 1088-89.

With respect to DASA Corporation, I have reviewed the record and I specifically find that, as applicable to it, each of the procedural steps listed by the Court of Appeals was in fact taken in bad faith.

As to the first appeal by plaintiffs of a mooted issue — the appeal of the denial of a preliminary injunction by Judge Motley, see 560 F.2d at 1082 — the records of DASA’s attorneys, the firm of Jacobs Persinger & Parker, reveal that 54 hours were required to deal with this matter.

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Browning Debenture Holders' Committee v. Dasa Corp., 81 F.R.D. 407, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17567 (S.D.N.Y. 1978).

81 F.R.D. 407 (Browning Debenture Holders' Committee v. Dasa Corp.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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