National Lawyers Guild v. Attorney General

94 F.R.D. 616, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15086
District Court, S.D. New York·Decided May 24, 1982·No. No. 77 Civ. 0999 (CLB)·Published·Cited by 13 cases

Opinion

[617]*617DISCOVERY ORDER NO. 38

KENT SINCLAIR, Jr., United States Magistrate:

In Discovery Order No. 24, subsequently adopted by Judge Brieant, this court directed defendants Attorney General and Federal Bureau of Investigation to compensate plaintiff for the fees and costs incurred in bringing the sanctions motion. Id. at 36. Discovery Order No. 24 further directed plaintiff to submit an accounting of costs and hours and the regular hourly fee charged. Id. at 37. Such an accounting has been submitted, Krinsky Affirmation dated May 5, 1982. Defendants have opposed the claim for costs and fees contained in the Krinsky Affirmation. Defendants’ Memorandum in Partial Opposition to Plaintiff’s Claim for Fees and Costs Pursuant to Discovery Order No. 24, dated May 14, 1982 (“Defts. Mem.”).

Defendants oppose plaintiff’s cost and fee claim on the following grounds:

A. The plaintiff fails to state whether it was actually charged on an hourly basis for the work performed by its counsel in connection with the sanctions motion.1

[618]*618B. The plaintiff is seeking recovery for fees and expenses generated in connection with matters other than the sanctions motion.

C. The plaintiff’s counsel spent too much time on one task, preparation for the September 9, 1981 hearing, assuming arguendo such preparation was a sanctions related task.

D. The plaintiff improperly seeks recovery for tasks performed after Discovery Order No. 24 was entered, i.e., “study” of D.O. 24, preparation of fee application, telephone calls about possible appeal from D.O. 24, correspondence with the client about D.O. 24 and other decisions.

E. The plaintiff cannot recover costs and fees generated before October 1, 1981 because the effective date of repeal of Rule 37(f), a waiver of sovereign immunity, did not occur until October 1, 1981.

F. The hourly rates for which counsel fee recovery is sought are excessive.

G. The expenses sought are excessive and insufficiently itemized.

These matters are resolved in succeeding sections of this Order.

A. Relevancy of Actual Billing Arrangements.

Generally, courts have concluded that the amount of a reasonable attorneys’ fee award, in contexts analogous to Rule 37 sanctions, should be determined without reference to any private agreement between client and counsel. See, e.g., Illinois v. Sangamo Construction Co., 657 F.2d 855, 861 (7th Cir. 1981); Manhart v. Los Angeles, 652 F.2d 904 (9th Cir. 1981); Sargeant v. Sharp, 579 F.2d 645 (1st Cir. 1978); Chrapliwy v. Uniroyal, Inc., 509 F.Supp. 442 (N.D.Ind.1981). And courts have rejected the contention, in situations analogous to Rule 37 sanctions, that plaintiffs represented on a pro bono basis are not entitled to attorneys’ fees. See, e.g., Miller v. Apartments & Homes of New Jersey, Inc., 646 F.2d 101 (3d Cir. 1981); Torres v. Sachs, 538 F.2d 10, 12-13 (2d Cir. 1976), or should receive a reduced amount, Miller, supra; EEOC v. Sage Realty, 521 F.Supp. 263, 507 F.Supp. 599 (S.D.N.Y.1981).

In Hamilton v. Ford Motor Co., 636 F.2d 745 (D.C.Cir.1980), the district court, pursuant to Rule 37, ordered “the imposition of all reasonable expenses including attorneys’ fees incurred by the injured party due to the wrongful acts of the party at fault.” Id. at 746. Since plaintiff’s counsel were operating on a contingent fee, they argued that the award should go to them, not plaintiff: “ ‘the plaintiff had not in fact incurred said expenses ... [and the] firm at no time [had] been compensated by plaintiff for the time spent in pursuit of discovery compliance.’ ” Id. at 747. Noting the punitive and deterrent purposes of Rule 37 awards, id. at 749, n.12, and the fact that the Retainer Agreement did not provide for an award of such fees to the attorneys, the court directed that a $50,000 award be made to plaintiff, notwithstanding that it might serve no compensatory purpose.

The court’s intent in the present case was not to limit fee recovery by plaintiff to amounts actually paid out to its counsel in the past. Defendants’ literal interpretation of a phrase2 in Discovery Order No. 24 to that effect is not unreasonable, but on the other hand the surrounding portions of that order (emphasizing punitive and deterrent function of sanctions) should have left little doubt that defendants’ conduct was not the sort that deserved simply a tongue lashing. See Cine Forty Second Street Theatre Corp. v. Allied Artists Picture Corp., 602 F.2d 1062, 1064-66 (2d Cir. 1979)(objectives of sanctions not achieved by paper tigers). Thus, defendants should pay to plaintiff an amount equal to the number of attorney and paralegal hours spent bringing the sanctions motion multiplied by a reasonable hourly fee plus ex[619]*619penses. The court has no interest at this juncture in compelling plaintiff to expose its fee arrangements to scrutiny by the court and defendants.

B. Fee Recovery For Non-Sanctions Related Work.

Defendants’ point in this respect is, generally, well taken. Defendants’ conduct deserves punishment, and the need for deterrence is clear, but plaintiff is not entitled to a bonanza or an unbridled feed at the government trough.

No fee recovery will be had for work related to the preparation of a discovery plan.

No fee recovery will be had for work performed after the entry of Discovery Order No. 24.

Pee recovery shall be had for the work reasonably attributed to the sanctions motion as follows:

1. Pre-hearing and hearing matters.

One-third (V3) of attorney and paralegal fees for work done in preparation for the September 9,1981 hearing.

Michael Krinsky, Esq.: 7 hours

Gordon Johnson, Esq.: 25.5 hours

Ms. Cruhlac : 5.8 hours

2. Post-hearing matters.

Michael Krinsky, Esq.

Gordon Johnson, Esq.

[620]*620 Gordon Johnson, Esq.

C. Recovery for September 9th hearing preparation.

Defendants’ point here is also well taken. Only one of the purposes of the hearing was to permit the parties to make their record on sanctions. As set forth in the previous section, it is the court’s judgment, based on a review of the transcript, that only one-third of pre-hearing and hearing attorney/paralegal work is reasonably viewed as sanctions related.

D. Work Performed after the entry of Discovery Order No. 24.

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National Lawyers Guild v. Attorney General, 94 F.R.D. 616, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15086 (S.D.N.Y. 1982).

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