Roggio v. Grasmuck

18 F. Supp. 3d 49, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32008, 2014 WL 991574
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedMarch 12, 2014
DocketCivil Action No. 10-40076-FDS
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 18 F. Supp. 3d 49 (Roggio v. Grasmuck) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Roggio v. Grasmuck, 18 F. Supp. 3d 49, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32008, 2014 WL 991574 (D. Mass. 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR ATTORNEYS’ FEES AND MOTION FOR A BILL OF COSTS

SAYLOR, District Judge.

This is a civil action involving violations of the Massachusetts Criminal Offender Record Information (“CORI”) statute, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 6 § 172. The case was tried to the Court without a jury. On November 11, 2013, the Court found in favor of plaintiff and awarded exemplary damages in the amount of $400 and reasonable costs and attorneys’ fees. Plaintiff has moved for an award of $113,926 in attorneys’ fees and $3,181.27 in costs.

For the following reasons, plaintiffs motions will be granted in part and denied in part.

I. Background

A. Factual Background

At trial, the Court found the following relevant facts. See generally Roggio v. Grasmuck, 988 F.Supp.2d 130, 2013 WL 6119324 (D.Mass. Nov. 19, 2013).

Plaintiff Vincent Roggio is a resident of Rumson, New Jersey. In 1987, he was convicted on several counts of mail fraud and making false statements in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. He served seven years in federal prison for those crimes. After his release from prison in 1994, he established several businesses in New Jersey.

Defendant William Grasmuck, a resident of Massachusetts, was a detective in the Gardner, Massachusetts Police Department. Defendant Edward Baeener, a resident of Massachusetts, was employed as a court officer in the Gardner District Court. He was also employed by the Hannaford’s supermarket in Gardner as a security officer.

On the morning of January 11, 2006, Grasmuck improperly obtained access to Roggio’s criminal record at Bacener’s request. Baeener received that information from Grasmuck and disseminated it to an unknown person or persons. In March 2006, Roggio’s criminal record appeared in the public filings of a lawsuit filed against him in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. It also appeared on a website, Gibraltar-Granite.com.

B. Procedural Background

In 2008, Roggio filed suit against the FBI in New Jersey, alleging improper disclosure of his criminal record. He learned through discovery in the New Jersey case that his criminal record on the FBI system had been accessed in 2006 by someone from the Gardner Police Department.

Roggio filed this action on April 23, 2010. At the time he filed the action, he knew the identity of the defendants and the basic nature of the violation; he essentially took no discovery in this action.

Originally, Roggio’s wife was also a plaintiff in the case. Her claims were later dismissed because she had filed for bankruptcy and had not preserved her claims by making the bankruptcy trustee aware of them as required by 11 U.S.C. § 521(a)(1).

The complaint originally included four claims: (1) violation of the Federal Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1983; (2) violation of Massachusetts privacy law, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 214 § IB; (3) violation of the Massachusetts CORI Act, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 6 § 172; and (4) violation of the Federal Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a(b).

[54]*54All but the CORI Act violation were dismissed before trial.

The complaint also originally included four defendants: the City of Gardner, William Grasmuck, Edward Bacener, and Hannaford Brothers Company. The claims against the City of Gardner and Hannaford were dismissed before trial.

Roggio originally claimed derivative damages based on harm to his company, Gibraltar Granite. Those claims were disallowed by the Court prior to trial.

Shortly before trial, Roggio engaged new counsel. His original lawyers, John Markham and Bridget Zerner, were replaced by Benjamin Wish, who tried the case.

At trial, Roggio claimed compensatory damages for litigation expenses in his previous case against the FBI and emotional distress as the result of a prosecutorial investigation allegedly spurred by the release of his criminal record information. He failed, however, to introduce competent evidence to prove those compensatory damages. He did prove one willful violation of the CORI Act by each remaining defendant, and was awarded $400 in exemplary damages, as well as attorneys’ fees and costs.

II. Attorneys’Fees

The CORI Act authorizes civil suits for improper dissemination of an individual’s criminal record information. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 6 § 177. If a defendant commits a willful violation of the act, a plaintiff may recover costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees. Id.

Courts in the First Circuit consider both federal and Massachusetts precedent when evaluating the reasonableness of an award of attorneys’ fees. Joyce v. Town of Dennis, 720 F.3d 12, 26 (1st Cir.2013). No Massachusetts courts have discussed how reasonable attorneys’ fees should be calculated under the CORI Act.

In the First Circuit, courts generally calculate an amount of attorneys’ fees using the “lodestar” method. Id. at 26 (citing Fontaine v. Ebtec Corp., 415 Mass. 309, 325, 613 N.E.2d 881 (1993)). This method “involves multiplying the number of hours productively spent by a reasonable hourly rate to calculate a base figure.” Torres-Rivera v. O’Neill-Cancel, 524 F.3d 331, 336 (1st Cir.2008). “The party seeking the award has the burden of producing materials that support the request.” Hutchinson ex rel. Julien v. Patrick, 636 F.3d 1, 13 (1st Cir.2011). Time records that are “too generic and, thus, insufficient as a practical matter to permit a court to answer questions about exces-siveness, redundancy, and the like” may also be discounted or disallowed. Torres-Rivera, 524 F.3d at 336.

The court determines the rates to be applied in the lodestar calculation. Id. at 336-37. “Reasonable fees ... are to be calculated according to the prevailing market rates in the relevant community, that is, those prevailing in the community for similar services by lawyers of reasonably comparable skill, experience, and reputation.” Grendel’s Den, Inc. v. Larkin, 749 F.2d 945, 955 (1st Cir.1984) (internal quotations omitted).

The court “may adjust the lodestar itself, upwards or downwards, based on any of several different factors.” Id.

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Bluebook (online)
18 F. Supp. 3d 49, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32008, 2014 WL 991574, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roggio-v-grasmuck-mad-2014.