Rouse v. Target Corp.

181 F. Supp. 3d 379, 2016 WL 319871, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9154
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Texas
DecidedJanuary 26, 2016
DocketCIVIL ACTION NO. 3:15-CV-48
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 181 F. Supp. 3d 379 (Rouse v. Target Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rouse v. Target Corp., 181 F. Supp. 3d 379, 2016 WL 319871, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9154 (S.D. Tex. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON ATTORNEY’S FEES AND COSTS

GEORGE C. HANKS, JR., UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Pending before the Court is Plaintiffs’ Motion for Attorney’s Fees and Defendant’s Response in Opposition. Dkts. 30, [383]*38331. Having considered the parties’ filings, the responses and replies thereto, and the applicable law, the Court finds Plaintiffs’ Motion for Attorney’s Fees should be GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Accordingly, the Court awards $23,750.00 in fees and $1,161.73 in court costs to Plaintiffs.

BACKGROUND

On March 3, 2015, Bobby Rouse (“Rouse”), individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, filed a collective action Complaint in this Court against Target Corporation (“Target”). Rouse alleged that Target maintained a common policy and practice of improperly classifying those in his former position of Executive Team Leader-Asset Protection (“ETL-AP”) as exempt from the overtime pay and related requirements of -the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. (“FLSA”). Nicole Garza (“Garza”), a former ETL-AP, filed her opt-in notice and on July 22, 2015 Rouse and Garza filed an Amended Complaint adding Garza as a named plaintiff. Like the Original Complaint, the Amended Complaint sought unpaid wages in a collective action under 29 U.S.C. § 216(b) on behalf of all current and former ETLs-AP employed by Target, as well as liquidated damages and attorney’s fees.

On July 24, 2015, after the parties had exchanged initial disclosures and responded to requests for the production of documents, Target extended Rule 68 Offers of Judgment to Plaintiffs. (“Rule 68 Offers”). On August 6, 2015, Plaintiffs accepted the Rule 68 Offers in the amounts of $6,250 for Rouse and $8,750 for Garza. Dkt. 26, ¶ 6. The Court subsequently approved Plaintiffs’ acceptance of the Rule 68 Offers and entered judgment ágainst Target.

No dispositive motions were ever filed and no depositions were taken by either party in this case. Likewise, no motion for conditional certification was filed by Plaintiffs, and no proposed class was certified. Prior to the Court’s approval of the Rule 68 Offers, only one opposed motion was submitted by either side—Plaintiffs’ Opposed Motion for Leave to File First Amended Complaint—which was granted the day after it was filed. The entire production in response to the parties’ requests for production of documents consisted of 11 documents from the Plaintiffs and approximately 325 documents from Target. See Dkt. 31-3, Exhibit B, lines 43, 115-116. This action had been on the Court’s docket for just under five months at the time that Target made the Rule 68 Offers.

Plaintiffs subsequently filed the Motion for Attorneys’ Fees and Costs that is currently pending before the Court. In the motion Plaintiffs assert that their claimed $48,975.00 in attorney’s fees and $1,161.73 in costs are reasonable and request an award of these sums. Dkt. 30-6, ¶¶ 3-4. To support the request, the Plaintiffs attached five exhibits: (1) Declaration of Rhonda H. Wills, (2) Fee Bills for Wills Law Firm, PLLC, (3) an Expense Statement, (4) the resume of an associate attorney Genevieve B. Estrada, and (5) Billing Rates Across the Country as reported by the National Law Journal’s annual survey. See Dkt. 30. Target filed a response opposing the award of these sums because, among other things, the claimed fees and costs are inadequately documented, excessive, duplica-tive or unnecessary. The arguments are-examined below.

ANALYSIS

The FLSA provides that “[t]he court in such action shall, in addition to any judgment awarded to the plaintiff or plaintiffs, allow a reasonable attorney’s fee to be paid by the defendant, and costs of the action.” 29 U.S.C. § 216(b). “Fee [384]*384awards are mandatory for prevailing plaintiffs in FLSA cases.” Chapman v. A.S.U.I. Healthcare & Dev. Ctr., No. CIV.A. H-11-3025, 2013 WL 487032, at *2 (S.D.Tex, Feb. 6, 2013) aff'd sub nom. Chapman v. A.S.U.I. Healthcare & Dev. Ctr., 562 Fed. Appx. 182 (5th Cir.2014) cert. denied, — U.S. -, 134 S.Ct. 2733, 189 L.Ed.2d 766 (2014). To be considered reasonable, however, those fees and costs must be properly- documented and supported. Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 433, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983).

Fee applications in the Fifth Cir: cuit are analyzed using the “lodestar” method. Saizan v. Delta Concrete Prods. Co., 448 F.3d 795, 799 (5th Cir.2006). The first step is to determine the reasonable hourly rate for the attorneys who worked on the case. The prevailing market rate for similar services by similarly situated trained and experienced lawyers in the relevant legal community is the established basis for- determining the reasonable hourly rate. Tollett v. City of Kemah, 285 F.3d 357, 368 (5th Cir.2002). The second step is to determine the number of hours “reasonably expended” -on the litigation. McClain v. Lufkin Indus., Inc., 519 F.3d 264, 284 (5th Cir.2008). The party seeking the fee award has the burden of establishing the reasonableness of the number of hours billed. Saizan v. Delta Concrete Prods. Co., 448 F.3d at 799. One relevant consideration in determining reasonableness is whether the attorney hours show an exercise of “billing judgment.” Id.; Black v. SettlePou, P.C., 732 F.3d 492, 502 (5th Cir.2013). To establish the exercise of billing judgment, a fee applicant must produce “documentation of the hours charged and the hours written off as unproductive, excessive, or redundant.” Saizan, 448 F.3d at 799. The court then calculates the appropriate “lodestar”, i.e., the .reasonable hourly billing rate for the attorney multiplied by the number of hours he or she reasonably expended on the litigation. Id.

After calculating the lodestar, a district court may enhance or decrease the amount of attorney’s fees based on the relative weights of the twelve factors set forth in Johnson.1 Saizan, 448 F.3d at 800; Riddle v. Tex-Fin, Inc., No. CIV.A. H-08-3121, 2011 WL 1103033, at *6 (S.D.Tex. Mar. 22, 2011). The lodestar may not be adjusted due to a Johnson factor that was already taken into account during the initial calculation of the lodestar. Saizan, 448 F.3d at 800 (noting that applying the same Johnson factor during the initial calculation and then again to adjust the lodestar “would be impermissible double counting.”) The lodestar is “presumptively reasonable and should only be modified in exceptional cases.” Watkins v. Fordice, 7 F.3d 453, 457 (5th Cir.1993).

A. Determining the Lodestar

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Bluebook (online)
181 F. Supp. 3d 379, 2016 WL 319871, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9154, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rouse-v-target-corp-txsd-2016.