McKesson Medical-Surgical Incorporated v. Custom Glass and Synthetic Design LLC

Opinion

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9 10 McKesson Medical-Surgical Inc., No. CV-21-01471-PHX-DGC 11 Plaintiff, ORDER

12 v. 13 Custom Glass and Synthetic Design, LLC, 14 Defendant. 15 16 17 Plaintiff McKesson Medical-Surgical sued Defendant Custom Glass and Synthetic 18 Design to recover a sum of money owed to Plaintiff for goods sold to Defendant. Doc. 1. 19 Defendant failed to answer or otherwise respond to the complaint. See Docs. 7-10. 20 Pursuant to Rule 55(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court granted 21 Plaintiff’s motion for default judgment against Defendant in the amount of $355,628.46. 22 Docs. 11, 12. 23 Plaintiff now moves for an award of attorneys’ fees and costs pursuant to Rule 54 24 and Local Rule of Civil Procedure 54.2. Doc. 13. The Court will grant the motion and 25 award Plaintiff $14,610.00 in attorneys’ fees and $710.54 in costs. 26 I. Background. 27 Between November 2020 and January 2021, Defendant purchased pharmaceutical 28 products from Plaintiff pursuant to a credit application and a series of invoice agreements. 1 Doc. 1 ¶¶ 8-9; see id. at 8-67 (application and invoices). Defendant failed to make the 2 invoice payments when due and therefore is in breach of the parties’ agreements. Id. ¶ 10. 3 Plaintiff brought this action to recover the total due for all unpaid invoices – $355,628.46 – 4 based on the following claims: (1) breach of contract, (2) goods sold and delivered, 5 (3) reasonable value, (4) money due, and (5) account stated. Id. ¶¶ 8-25 see id. at 71-72 6 (final account statement). 7 Defendant was served with the summons and complaint on August 31, 2021 8 (Doc. 7), but failed to respond. The Clerk entered Defendant’s default on October 5 9 (Doc. 10), and the Court entered default judgment against Defendant on December 27 10 (Doc. 12). The Court directed Plaintiff to file its motion for attorneys’ fees within 14 days 11 of the judgment. Doc. 12 at 6. Plaintiff timely filed the present motion on January 10, 12 2022. Doc. 13. Defendant has filed no response and the time for doing so has expired. 13 See Fed. R. Civ. P. 6; LRCiv 7.2(c). 14 II. Discussion. 15 Plaintiff has shown that it is entitled to reasonable attorneys’ fees. In the credit 16 application, Defendant expressly “agree[d] to pay all reasonable attorneys’ fees and 17 expenses or cost[s] incurred by McKesson in enforcing its rights to collect amounts due 18 from [Defendant].” Doc. 13-2 at 2. Plaintiff also has a statutory right to recover reasonable 19 attorneys’ fees under A.R.S. § 12-341.01. See Doc. 13 at 3. That statute provides that “[i]n 20 any contested action arising out of a contract, express or implied, the court may award the 21 successful party reasonable attorney fees.” A.R.S. § 12-341.01(A). Given the default 22 judgment against Defendant on the contract-based claims (see Doc. 12 at 3-4), Plaintiff 23 clearly is entitled to a fee award under this statute. See Best W. Int’l Inc. v. Ghotra Inc., 24 No. CV-20-01775-PHX-MTL, 2021 WL 1877525, at *1 (D. Ariz. Mar. 22, 2021). 25 Having reviewed Plaintiff’s supporting memorandum (Doc. 13 at 3-4) and counsel’s 26 affidavit and statement of fees (Doc. 13-3), and having considered the record as a whole 27 and the relevant fee award factors, see Associated Indemnity Corp. v. Warner, 694 P.2d 28 1181, 1184 (Ariz. 1985), the Court finds the requested fee award to be reasonable and 1 | appropriate. See also LRCiv 54.2(c)(3) (listing factors bearing on the reasonableness of a 2| fee award); Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 429-30 & n.3 (1983) (same). The Court 3| will grant Plaintiff’s motion and award it attorneys’ fees in the amount of $14,610.00 4| (33.7 hours at an average hourly rate of ~$434.00). See Doc. 13-3 at 4. The Court will 5 | also grant Plaintiff's request for $710.54 in costs. See id. at 4, 16 (itemizing costs for filing 6| fees, service of process, legal research, PACER, and postage); LRCiv 54.1(d) (“The party 7 | entitled to costs shall be the prevailing party. Generally, a party in whose favor judgment 8 | is rendered is the prevailing party.’’). 9 IT IS ORDERED: 10 1. Plaintiff McKesson Medical-Surgical Inc.’s unopposed motion for award of 11 | attorneys’ fees and costs (Doc. 13) is granted. 12 2. Plaintiff is awarded $14,610.00 in attorneys’ fees and $710.54 in costs. 13 Dated this 31st day of January, 2022. 14 » aud © Cans plhtl 16 David G. Campbell V7 Senior United States District Judge 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

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