Griffin v. Humana Employers Health Plan of Georgia, Inc.

167 F. Supp. 3d 1337, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29763, 2016 WL 897700
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedMarch 8, 2016
DocketCIVIL ACTION NO. 1:15-CV-3574-AT
StatusPublished

This text of 167 F. Supp. 3d 1337 (Griffin v. Humana Employers Health Plan of Georgia, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Griffin v. Humana Employers Health Plan of Georgia, Inc., 167 F. Supp. 3d 1337, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29763, 2016 WL 897700 (N.D. Ga. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER

Amy Totenberg, United States District Judge

This matter, one of a series of actions brought by Dr. Griffin,1 is before the Court on Defendant Infinity Technology Consulting’s (“ITC”) Motion for Attorney’s Fees [Doc. 13].

I. ENTITLEMENT TO FEES

Defendant seeks attorney’s fees only under ERISA’s fee-shifting provision. [1340]*1340Pursuant to ERISA’s fee-shifting provision, a district court, “in its discretion may allow a reasonable attorney’s fee and costs of action to either party,” 29 U.S.C. § 1132(g)(1) (2012), if that party achieved “some degree of success on the merits.” Hardt v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., 560 U.S. 242, 255, 130 S.Ct. 2149, 176 L.Ed.2d 998 (2010). This standard requires more than “trivial success on the merits” or a “purely procedural victory.” Id.

Once it is established that a party had “some degree” of success, the Eleventh Circuit “require[s] district courts to consider five factors when deciding whether to award fees to a prevailing party:

(1) the degree of the opposing parties’ culpability or bad faith;
(2) the ability of the opposing parties to satisfy an award of attorney’s fees;
(3) whether an award of attorney’s fees against the opposing parties would deter other persons. acting under similar circumstances;
(4) whether the parties requesting attorney’s fees sought to benefit all participants and beneficiaries of an ERISA plan or to resolve a significant legal question regarding ERISA itself; [and]
(5) the relative merits of the parties’ positions.”

AirTran Airways, Inc. v. Elem, 767 F.3d 1192, 1201 (11th Cir.2014) (quoting Freeman v. Continental Ins. Co., 996 F.2d 1116, 1119 (11th Cir.1993)). “No one of these factors is necessarily decisive, and some may not be apropos in a given case, but together they are the nuclei of concerns that a court should address in applying Section 502(g).” Iron Workers Local No. 272 v. Bowen, 624 F.2d 1255, 1266 (5th Cir.1980).2

While no factor is decisive and some may'not be apropos, there may be other factors that a Court should consider in a particular case. As explained by the current Fifth Circuit,

Bowen makes clear that ... the list of five factors to be considered in an ERISA § 502(g) attorneys’ fees case is a non-exhaustive, ejusdem generis list (“[A] court should consider such factors as the following [five factors].... [I]n any individual case, however, other considerations may he relevant as well.”).

Riley v. Adm’r of Supersaver 401K Capital Accumulation Plan for Employees of Participating AMR Corp. Subsidiaries, 209 F.3d 780, 782 (5th Cir.2000) (emphasis in original) (footnote omitted).

As for success on the merits, “[t]here is no doubt that the Defendants] achieved ‘some degree of success on the merits’ as this Court [dismissed all of] Plaintiffs claims.” DeBartolo v. Health & Welfare Dep’t of the Const. & Gen. Laborers’''Dist. Council of Chicago & Vicinity, No. 09 CV 0039, 2011 WL 1131110, at *1 (N.D.I11. [1341]*1341Mar. 28, 2011) (dismissing plaintiffs claims at summary judgment based in part on lack of a valid assignment and granting attorney’s fees); see also Griffin v. Gen. Mills, Inc., No. 1:15-CV-0268-AT, 157 F.Supp.Bd 1350, 1353-54, 2016 WL 354431, at *3 (N.D.Ga. Jan. 15, 2016). F.or some relevant background into the success on the merits, Plaintiff did not respond to either of the Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss. Unbeknownst to the Court, Plaintiff wrote to Defendants about her decision not to oppose these motions:

The purpose of this email [is] to let you know that I will not be responding to your motions to dismiss. I have reason to believe [that] all of my cases have been fixed. Thus, no point in wasting my time writing a response when the cases already have a predetermined outcome.

(Doc. 13-1 at 2 (emphasis in original).) The Court granted Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss as unopposed and because they were based upon proper legal authority. (Doc. 11 at 2 (“[T]he Court — having decided most of the issues raised in the Motions multiple times in Dr. Griffin’s other cases and having been affirmed multiple times by the Eleventh Circuit as to the anti-assignment issue that is central to the majority of the claims in this case — finds that the Motions are based upon proper legal authority.”). ITC thus obtained success on the merits.

Moving on to the five factors, an award of attorney’s fees is proper in this ease and is supported by at least four of the factors. (1) Plaintiff shows some degree of bad faith by continuing to file these carbon-copy lawsuits, and that degree only grows with every other suit that is dismissed and decision that is affirmed on appeal. (2) The Court has no doubt that Plaintiff can satisfy an award of some amount of attorney’s fees, since, according to the Court’s calculation and as Defendant points out, she has spent upward of $20,000 in filing fees alone in this series of cases. (3) An award of attorney’s fees against Plaintiff might deter Plaintiff and others from continuing to file identical claims where the claims are asserted against the wrong party or have no viable basis under existing ERISA precedent. This factor weighs somewhat in favor of an award because, in this case, for the first time, Plaintiff amended her complaint to include both the claims administrator and the plan administrator. (4) The relative merits of the parties’ positions is by now quite clear. After a thorough review of the record in this case and balancing all of the factors to be considered when awarding fees to the prevailing party, the Court finds that an award of fees pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 1132(g)(1) is appropriate in this case.

II. CALCULATION OF FEES

“The initial estimate of a reasonable attorney’s fee is properly calculated by multiplying the number of hours reasonably expended on the litigation times a reasonable hourly rate. Adjustments to that fee then may be made as necessary in the particular case.” Blum v. Stenson, 465 U.S. 886, 888, 104 S.Ct. 1541, 79 L.Ed.2d 891 (1984) (citation omitted). Defendant argues it is entitled to $4,402.50 in attorney’s fees for the services of Balch & Bingham LLP. Defendant submitted a declaration of Ms. Tashwanda Pinchback Dixon to evidence that the following factors went into calculating that amount:

1) Mr. Kimble, a partner and 29-year ERISA litigator, spent 1.5 hours on the case at a rate of $455.00/hour.
[1342]*13422) Ms.

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Related

Blum v. Stenson
465 U.S. 886 (Supreme Court, 1984)
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W.A. Griffin, MD v. General Mills, Inc.
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Hardt v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Co.
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157 F. Supp. 3d 1282 (N.D. Georgia, 2015)
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Bluebook (online)
167 F. Supp. 3d 1337, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29763, 2016 WL 897700, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/griffin-v-humana-employers-health-plan-of-georgia-inc-gand-2016.