Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Trade Exchange Network Ltd.

159 F. Supp. 3d 5, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 152769, 2015 WL 7769681
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedNovember 9, 2015
DocketCivil Action No. 12-1902 (RCL)
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 159 F. Supp. 3d 5 (Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Trade Exchange Network Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Trade Exchange Network Ltd., 159 F. Supp. 3d 5, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 152769, 2015 WL 7769681 (D.D.C. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ROYCE C. LAMBERTH, United States District Judge

This matter comes before the Court on the plaintiffs Motion for Attorneys’ Fees [63]. Upon consideration of the record and applicable legal standards, the Court concludes that the plaintiff is entitled to attorneys’ fees in the amount of $45,877.50.

I. BACKGROUND

In this case, the plaintiff, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “Commission”) brought suit against defendants Trade Exchange Network Limited (“TEN”) and Intrade the Prediction Market Limited (“Intrade”) for violations of the Commodity Exchange Act, 7 U.S.C. §§ 1 et seq. (2002), and the Commission’s Regulations, 17 C.F.R. §§ 1.1 et seq. (2004). Compl. 1.

After over a year of litigation, the Commission filed a motion to compel in January 2014, asking that the Court order the defendants to cooperate in discovery and produce documents and interrogatory responses. ECF No. 25. The Court granted the Commission’s motion to compel in June 2014 and ordered that the defendants [7]*7fulfill their discovery obligations. ECF No. 33.

The defendants failed to timely produce responsive documents and complete interrogatory responses as ordered by the Court. Pl.’s Pet. Att’y Fees 2. Thus, the Commission filed a Motion to Show Cause and for Sanctions pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(b)(2)(A). ECF No. 35. In December 2014, this Court granted the plaintiffs Motion. ECF No. 37. The Court ordered the defendants to pay attorneys’ fees incurred by the Commission as a result of the defendants’ failure to abide by discovery obligations, including those expenses incurred in relation to: (1) the plaintiffs motion to compel production of documents and interrogatory responses [25]; (2) the plaintiffs reply to the defendants’ opposition to the motion to compel [30]; and (3) the plaintiffs motion to show cause before the Court at that time [35]. Id.

After considering the defendants’ response to the December 2014 order to show cause, the Court held the defendants in civil contempt. ECF No. 59. Additionally, the Court ordered the defendants to pay all attorneys’ fees incurred by the plaintiff as a result of the defendants’ failure to comply with the Court’s order to compel [33], including expenses concerning: (1) the plaintiffs motion to show cause [35]; and (2) the plaintiffs reply to the defendants’ response to the order to show cause [46]. Id.

In sum, the Court ordered the defendants to compensate the plaintiff for attorneys’ fees incurred in relation to filings [25], [30], [35], and [46]. The Commission now comes before the Court requesting payment of these fees, which it calculates amount to $50,975. Pl.’s Pet. Att’y Fees 8. This figure consists of fees resulting from the work of Kathleen Bañar, a Chief Trial Attorney in the Commission’s Division of Enforcement, and James Deacon, a Senior Trial Attorney in the Commission’s Division of Enforcement. Id. at 4. According to the Commission, Ms. Bañar spent 48.5 hours and Mr. Deacon spent 57 hours on documents [25], [30], [35], and [46] and the Petition for Attorney’s Fees [63]. Id.

In support of its memorandum, the Commission has provided declarations from Ms. Bañar and Mr. Deacon, consisting of time sheets created by the attorneys and explanations of the time spent, as well as an updated version of the “Laffey Matrix.” Id. at Exhibits 1-4. The Commission utilizes the Laffey Matrix to determine the reasonable hourly rates of Ms. Bañar and Mr. Deacon’s work, and the defendants do not oppose the use of the Laffey Matrix in this regard. Id. at 5-6; see also Def.’s Opp. PL’s Pet. Att’y Fees (failing to challenge use of the Laffey Matrix).

According to the Matrix, a reasonable hourly rate for Ms. Bañar, who has practiced law for over twenty-six years, is $510 per hour for the work she conducted on the Commission’s Motion to Compel [25] and Reply [30] from June 2013-May 2014 and $520 for the work she performed in preparing her Declaration in Support of the Petition [63] from June 2014-May 2015. Pl.’s Pet. Att’y Fees 6-7. Based on the Matrix, a reasonable hourly rate for Mr. Deacon, who has practiced law for seventeen years, is $460 per hour. Id. at 7.

II. LEGAL STANDARDS

Attorneys’ fees awarded for a violation of Rule 37 are calculated using the lodestar method:' a reasonable hourly rate multiplied by a reasonable number of hours expended. Cobell v. Norton, 231 F.Supp.2d 295, 300 (D.D.C.2002).

[8]*8In order to be considered reasonable, the hourly rate must be in line with rates charged by other attorneys in the community of comparable skill, reputation, and ability. Laffey V. Northwest Airlines, Inc., 746 F.2d 4, 16 (D.C.Cir.1984). District of Columbia courts generally accept the Matrix from Laffey, in updated form, as an accurate reflection of the reasonable hourly rates of attorneys within the District. See Bode & Grenier, LLP v. Knight, 31 F.Supp.3d 111, 113-14 (D.D.C.2014) (“With respect to the prevailing market rates for ‘complex federal litigation,’ courts in this Circuit often utilize the Laffey matrix. ...”).

The hours expended must also be reasonable in light of the circumstances. See Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 433-34, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983) (stating that courts should omit from their fee calculation hours that were not “reasonably expended”). The requesting party “should make a good-faith effort to exclude from a fee request hours that are excessive, redundant, or otherwise unnecessary, just as a lawyer in private practice ethically is obligated to exclude such hours from his fee submission.” Id.

Accordingly, the party requesting attorneys’ fees must demonstrate that they exercised billing discretion in their computation of the requested amount. See Copeland v. Marshall, 641 F.2d 880, 891 (D.C.Cir.1980) (“In the private sector, ‘billing judgment’ is an important component in fee setting. It is no less important here. Hours that are not properly billed to one’s client also are not properly billed to one’s adversary pursuant to statutory authority.”); see also Perdue v. Kenny A., 559 U.S. 542, 551, 130 S.Ct. 1662, 176 L.Ed.2d 494 (2010) (“[T]he lodestar method produces an award that roughly approximates the fee that the prevailing attorney would have received if he or she had been representing a paying client who was billed by the hour in a comparable case.”); In re Johnson & Johnson Derivative Litig., No. 10-2033(FLW), 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 180822, at *33 (D. N.J. June 13, 2013) (stating that courts must exclude hours “that would be unreasonable to bill to a client and therefore to one’s adversary irrespective of the skill, reputation or experience of counsel”).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
159 F. Supp. 3d 5, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 152769, 2015 WL 7769681, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commodity-futures-trading-commission-v-trade-exchange-network-ltd-dcd-2015.