Gross v. CitiBank NA

District Court, D. Arizona·Decided August 10, 2023·No. 2:18-cv-02103·Unknown

Opinion

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8 9 Marshall Gross, No. CV-18-02103-PHX-ROS 10 Plaintiff, ORDER 11 v. 12 CitiMortgage Incorporated, 13 Defendant. 14 15 Pending before the Court is Plaintiff’s Motion for Attorneys’ Fees seeking over 16 $480,000 in fees. (Doc. 203). The billing records counsel submit reflect an astonishing

17 level of time spent on tasks. In fact, the time recorded for certain tasks is so implausible 18 that it renders the billing records, in their entirety, unreliable. Based on counsel’s decision

19 to not keep accurate billing records, the motion will be granted in part and denied in part.

20 I. Background 21 Plaintiff Marshall Gross filed this suit under the Fair Credit Reporting Act alleging 22 CitiMortgage Incorporated (“Citi”) failed to conduct a reasonable investigation following

23 his written credit reporting dispute. The Court granted summary judgment in favor of Citi

24 (Doc. 137), but the Ninth Circuit reversed and remanded that decision (Doc. 142). On

25 remand, the case was proceeding to trial when Plaintiff accepted Citi’s Offer of Judgment,

26 settling the case for $50,000. (Doc. 200). That settlement did not include or address 27 attorneys’ fees, so Plaintiff subsequently filed a Motion for Attorneys’ Fees pursuant to the 28 fee shifting provision of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681n(a)(3) and

1 1681o(a)(2), the Offer of Judgment, and Local Rule 54.2. (Doc. 203). Plaintiff seeks to 2 recover $481,807.50 in attorneys’ fees. (Doc. 203 at 1). Citi argues that amount is excessive 3 and requests an award capped at $150,333.20. (Doc. 206 at 18). 4 II. Lodestar Calculation 5 “[C]ourts employ the ‘lodestar’ method to determine a reasonable attorney’s fees 6 award.” Kelly v. Wengler, 822 F.3d 1085, 1099 (9th Cir. 2016) (citing Fischer v. SJB–P.D. 7 Inc., 214 F.3d 1115, 1119 (9th Cir. 2000)). “[A] court calculates the lodestar figure by 8 multiplying the number of hours reasonably expended on a case by a reasonable hourly 9 rate.” Id. The Court has “considerable discretion” in determining the reasonableness of 10 attorney’s fees. Webb v. Ada County Idaho, 195 F.3d 524, 527 (9th Cir. 1999). After 11 calculating the lodestar amount, a Court may reduce or multiply the award based on a 12 variety of factors. Those factors include: 13 “(1) the time and labor required, (2) the novelty and difficulty of the questions 14 involved, (3) the skill requisite to perform the legal service properly, (4) the 15 preclusion of other employment by the attorney due to acceptance of the case, (5) 16 the customary fee, (6) whether the fee is fixed or contingent, (7) time limitations 17 imposed by the client or the circumstances, (8) the amount involved and the results 18 obtained, (9) the experience, reputation, and ability of the attorneys, (10) the 19 ‘undesirability’ of the case, (11) the nature and length of the professional 20 relationship with the client, and (12) awards in similar cases.” 21 Kerr v. Screen Extras Guild, Inc., 526 F.2d 67, 70 (9th Cir. 1975) (citing Johnson v. 22 Georgia Highway Express, inc., 488 F.2d 714, 720 (5th Cir. 1974)) (“Kerr factors”).1 Some 23 of these factors normally are subsumed in the lodestar such that they should not be 24 considered again after the lodestar is determined. See Gonzalez v. City of Maywood, 729 25 F.3d 1196, 1209 (9th Cir. 2013) (identifying factors that are normally considered when 26 calculating lodestar). 27 1 Local Rule 54.2 also lists factors the Court must address when determining the 28 reasonableness of the requested award. These factors are largely duplicative of the Kerr factors.

1 A. Hourly Rates 2 The first question is whether the rates asserted by Plaintiff are reasonable. “A 3 reasonable hourly rate is ordinarily the prevailing market rate in the relevant community.” 4 Southwest Fair Housing Council v. WG Scottsdale LLC, 2022 WL 16715613, *3 (D. Ariz. 5 Nov. 4, 2022) (citing Kelly, 822 F.3d at 1099). And “the burden is on the fee applicant to 6 produce satisfactory evidence—in addition to the attorney’s own affidavits—that the 7 requested rates are in line with those prevailing in the community for similar services by 8 lawyers of reasonably comparable skill, experience, and reputation.” Blum v. Stenson, 465 9 U.S. 886, 895 n.11 (1984). 10 Plaintiff submitted the following rates and asserts they are reasonable: 11 Attorney 2018-19 2020 2021 2022 2023 David A. Chami 12 $500/hour $550/hour $650/hour $725/hour $725/hour Nemer N. Hadous 13 N/A N/A N/A $500/hour $550/hour Beth Findsen 14 $500/hour $525/hour N/A N/A $575/hour Michael Yancey III 15 N/A N/A $275/hour $275/hour N/A 16 17 To support Plaintiff’s claim of reasonableness, each of the four attorneys submitted 18 affidavits stating they have determined these rates are reasonable. (Docs. 203-4, 203-5, 19 203-7, and 203-8). Plaintiff also submitted additional declarations from other lawyers 20 litigating in the consumer protection practice area to substantiate that these rates are 21 reasonable for the years at issue. (Docs. 203-6, 203-9, 203-10). These declarations all 22 include the same language indicating the market rate in Arizona for this type of case “is a 23 range from $300-850+ per hour,” and that the “market rate in Phoenix is generally skewed 24 to the higher end of that rang [sic] to account to [sic] the higher cost of living in a 25 metropolitan area.” (Docs. 203-6 at 3, 203-9 at 12, and 203-10 at 3).2 Lastly, Plaintiff 26 submitted a United States Consumer Law Attorney Fee Survey Report for the year 2017- 27 2 The Court notes the presence of the typographical errors in each of the affidavits from 28 three different attorneys in the same paragraph, suggesting this boilerplate language was provided to the affiants.

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