Hunt v. Hadden

159 F. Supp. 3d 800, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11951, 2016 WL 386430
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedFebruary 2, 2016
DocketCase Number 14-10713
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 159 F. Supp. 3d 800 (Hunt v. Hadden) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hunt v. Hadden, 159 F. Supp. 3d 800, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11951, 2016 WL 386430 (E.D. Mich. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING IN PART MOTION FOR COSTS AND ATTORNEY’S FEES

DAVID M. LAWSON, United States District Judge

The Court entered judgment in this case on October 23, 2015, finding the defen[804]*804dants liable to the plaintiffs for statutory-conversion under Michigan Compiled Laws § 600.2919a. The plaintiffs have filed a timely motion for attorney’s fees and costs under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(d). They also ask the Court to award prejudgment interest. The defendants oppose the motion, asserting that an award of attorney’s fees under the statute is discretionary and the Court should exercise its discretion and not award" fees, the amount of fees requested is excessive, costs (other than filing fees) should not be awarded, and prejudgment interest should be limited. The motion papers adequately set forth the relevant facts and law, and oral argument will not aid in the disposition of the motion. Therefore, it is ORDERED that the motion be decided on the papers submitted, and the hearing scheduled for February 3, 2016 is CAN-CELLED. See E.D. Mich. LR 7.1(f)(2). The plaintiffs have demonstrated their entitlement to attorney’s fees and certain costs, including prejudgment interest in an amount to be determined. Therefore, the Court will grant the plaintiffs’ motion in part.

I. Background

The facts of the case are well known to the parties. A brief summary will suffice here. Plaintiff C. David Hunt, a neurosurgeon, and his wife, Carol Santangelo, hired defendant Donnelly Hadden, an attorney, to represent them in an action to recover damages Hunt suffered when the condominium they leased in Marquette, Michigan was found to have vented carbon monoxide fumes into the living quarters. Dr. Hunt suffered from prolonged exposure to toxic fumes that had been circulating throughout the condominium; the exposure to the toxins left him permanently disabled and unable to work.

Hadden sued the condominium owners and the condominium association on behalf of Hunt and Santangelo. He negotiated a settlement of that case, but retained more of the settlement proceeds than his fee agreement allowed. He also counseled his clients to sign a broad release that had the effect of barring any further action against the developer, the builder, and the HVAC contractor, who, presumably, were the primary targets (and perhaps the deeper pockets) of the liability claim. When this came to. light, the plaintiffs sued Hadden and his professional corporation in this court by filing an eleven-count complaint alleging various theories of liability that focused on legal malpractice, conversion, fraud, and loss of consortium. After early efforts to resolve the dispute proved fruitless, the case was robustly litigated by the defendants. At some point, after it became known that the defendants had no insurance and their collectability was in doubt, the plaintiffs abandoned their legal malpractice claim (most likely due to the expense of having to obtain expert witnesses to prove the case within a case) and focused on the conversion claims. The Court granted the plaintiffs partial summary judgment on the statutory conversion claim, and the parties eventually stipulated to the amount of damages. Judgment in the amount of $10,028.44 was entered on October 28, 2015.

The plaintiffs now seek attorney’s fees of $146,756.25, costs of $642.27, prejudgment interest at five percent from the day of the conversion to the day of judgment, and a declaration that they may seek additional attorney’s fees following the appeal. Hadden argues that attorney’s fees cannot be awarded unless the plaintiffs show that the defendants acted willfully and wantonly. He also maintains that the hourly rate used by the plaintiffs’ attorney in computing his fee request — $375—is excessive, and-the amount of time expended is unreasonably overstated. Hadden also insists that the plaintiffs cannot recover any costs other than the filing fee, and prejudgment [805]*805interest cannot be awarded in a motion filed under Rule 54.

II. Attorney’s Fees

In a diversity action such as this, when considering an award of attorney’s fees, the Court must apply state substantive law and federal procedural law. See First Bank of Marietta v. Hartford Underwriters Ins. Co., 307 F.3d 501, 528 (6th Cir.2002) (citing Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 78, 58 S.Ct. 817, 82 L.Ed. 1188 (1938)); see also Alyeska Pipeline Co. v. Wilderness Soc’y, 421 U.S. 240, 260 n. 31, 95 S.Ct. 1612, 44 L.Ed.2d 141 (1975) (“In an ordinary diversity case where the state law does not run counter to a valid federal statute,... state law denying the right to attorney’s fees or giving a right thereto, which reflects a substantial policy of the state, should be followed.”); Chambers v. NASCO, Inc., 501 U.S. 32, 52, 111 S.Ct. 2123, 115 L.Ed.2d 27 (1991). Rule 54(d) states that requests for attorney’s fees must be made by motion, which must “specify the judgment and the statute, rule, or other grounds entitling the movant to the award.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(d)(2)(A), (2)(B)(ii).

Michigan’s statutory conversion statute expressly authorizes recovery of attorney’s fees when a plaintiff establishes a violation of the statute. The statute states:

A person damaged as a result of [statutory conversion] may recover 3 times the amount of actual damages sustained, plus costs and reasonable attorney fees.

Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.2919a(l).

A. Entitlement to Attorney’s Fees

The defendants point out that because the statute allows that a plaintiff “may” recover attorney’s fees, a fee award is discretionary. Case law supports that view. See Aroma Wines & Equip., Inc. v. Columbian Distribution Servs., Inc., 303 Mich.App. 441, 449, 844 N.W.2d 727, 732 (2013), aff'd in part and rev’s on other grounds 497 Mich. 337, 871 N.W.2d 136 (2015) (noting that under section 600.2912a(l), “treble damages and attorney fees are discretionary”).

The defendants insist that the plaintiffs are not entitled to attorney’s fees because the defendants did not act willfully or wantonly in converting funds, contending that the plaintiffs must make the same case for attorney’s fees as they would have had to demonstrate to recover treble damages. That argument is not persuasive. “[T]reble damages are in their nature pu-nitory.” Shepard v. Gates, 50 Mich. 495, 498, 15 N.W. 878, 879 (1883). Attorney’s fees under Michigan law, on the other hand, are generally compensatory in nature. See McAuley v. Gen. Motors Corp., 457 Mich. 513, 520, 578 N.W.2d 282

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Bluebook (online)
159 F. Supp. 3d 800, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11951, 2016 WL 386430, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hunt-v-hadden-mied-2016.