Tokyo Electron Arizona, Inc. v. Discreet Industries Corp.

215 F.R.D. 60, 67 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1284, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11540, 2003 WL 1889292
District Court, E.D. New York·Decided April 3, 2003·No. No. CV 01-3245(DRH)(WDW)·Published·Cited by 13 cases

Opinion

ORDER

WALL, United States Magistrate Judge.

By sealed order dated January 29, 2003, the plaintiff, Tokyo Electron Arizona (“TAZ”), was awarded reasonable attorney’s fees and costs pursuant to Federal Rule 37, to be recovered from the defendants, Discreet Industries and Ovadia Meron (“Discreet”), in connection with TAZ’s July 16, 2002 motion to compel and subsequent motion for contempt. After an extension of the time in which to submit papers in support of the award of fees and costs, chambers received the plaintiffs supporting papers on February 20, 2003. The defendants’ papers in opposition were received on March 5, 2003 and the plaintiffs reply papers were received on March 19, 2003. In its papers, the plaintiff seeks a total award of $69,901.94.

For the reasons set forth below, the court awards $55,751.79 in fees and $5386.19 in costs, for a total award of $61,137.98.

DISCUSSION

The facts underlying the award of fees and costs are set out at length in the January 29 Order and will not be repeated here, where the only issue is the amount to be awarded. The plaintiffs initial papers set forth the amount of attorney’s fees and costs, supported by declarations from the attorneys, Edgar H. Haug, a partner at the law firm of Frommer, Lawrence & Haug (“FL & H”), Kevin Murphy, a senior associate at that firm, David A. Zwally, an associate, and Nathan D. Weber, a new associate awaiting admission, along with declarations from Randy Levine, FL & H’s Director of Technology, and Christopher R. Faron and Layla Hani, who are paralegals at the law firm. Annexed to the declarations are redacted time sheets that set forth a brief description of the work done by each person, the amount of time spent on it, and the amount billed, with handwritten notations that the plaintiff says indicate the “actual time spent on these motions or underlying document review related to the motions.” 2/19/03 Zwally Letter at 2. The plaintiff also seeks reimbursement for 2.5 hours of work done by a former employee, Matthew Kelleher, for whom no declaration has been submitted.

The summary table created by the plaintiff sets forth the following information:

Attorney Hours Billed Rate Total

Edgar Haug 16.1 $510 $ 8,211

Kevin Murphy 117.925 $280 $33,091

David Zwally 80.3 $180 $14,454

Paralegal/L. Clerk Hours Billed Rate Total

Nathan D. Weber 29.8 $175.74 $ 5,237

Matthew Kelleher 2.5 $105 $ 262.50

Christopher Faron 22.05 $105 $ 2315.25

Layla Hani 2.0 $110 $ 220

Technical Staff Hours Billed Rate Total

Randy Levine 7.0 $175 $ 1,225

Total $65,015.75

TAZ’s costs under 28 U.S.C. § 1920 are set forth as:

Copying costs $4307.59

[62] Transcripts 578.601

Total $4886.19

The plaintiff argues that the time spent and the hourly rates are reasonable, but the defendants do not agree. They oppose the amounts sought on several grounds, claiming that both the hourly billing rates and the amount of time spent are excessive, and that the supporting documents do not meet the required level of specificity or contemporaneity. The court will address the objections, addressing the fees sought for Mr. Levine’s work separately, inasmuch as that application raises several novel issues.'

1. Attorney’s Fees:

In this Circuit, attorney’s fee awards are determined by calculating the “lodestar” figure, which is based on the number of reasonable hours expended, multiplied by a reasonable hourly rate. See Cruz v. Local Union No. 3 of the Int’l Brotherhood of Elec. Workers, 34 F.3d 1148, 1159 (2d Cir.1994) (citing F.H. Krear & Co. v. Nineteen Named Trustees, 810 F.2d 1250, 1263 (2d Cir.1987)). The party seeking reimbursement bears the burden of proving the reasonableness and necessity of hours spent and rates charged. See generally, New York State Ass’n for Retarded Children, Inc. v. Carey, 711 F.2d 1136 (2d Cir.1983). To this end, a fee application must be supported by contemporaneous time records that describe with specificity, by attorney, the nature of the work done, the hours expended, and the dates. Id. at 1147-48.

Contemporaneous time records: The defendants complain that TAZ’s time records do not meet the applicable standard of specificity through contemporaneous time records. See Discreet’s Objections to the Application of TAZ for Attorney’s Fees and Costs at 2. Discreet argues that the attorney declarations are “vague, almost cryptic in the description of work, and are incomplete.” Discreet’s Objections at 3. Discreet also challenges the use of handwritten notations of time and the redaction of some information in the time records. The court disagrees with Discreet’s opposition. While TAZ’s records are not, in some instances, abundantly detailed, the level of detail is sufficient to meet the requisite standard.

As TAZ explains in its Reply Memorandum and in the Murphy Declaration, the time records submitted are copies of computer printouts from FL & H’s accounting program and reflect the firm’s requirement that lawyers and other employees keep contemporaneous logs of billable time. As TAZ notes, the Supreme Court has found that counsel is not required to record each moment’s work in detail, but should identify the general subject matter of the time expended. See TAZ Reply Mem. at 5 (citing Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 437n, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 76 L.Ed.2d 40.12 (1983)). A fee applicant can rely on monthly computer printouts that are based on contemporaneous entries to satisfy the time record requirement. See Cruz, 34 F.3d at 1160-61; see also Mautner v. Hirsch, 831 F.Supp. 1058, 1076-77 (S.D.N.Y.1993), rev’d on other grounds, 32 F.3d 37 (2d Cir. 1994).

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Tokyo Electron Arizona, Inc. v. Discreet Industries Corp., 215 F.R.D. 60, 67 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1284, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11540, 2003 WL 1889292 (E.D.N.Y. 2003).

215 F.R.D. 60 (Tokyo Electron Arizona, Inc. v. Discreet Industries Corp.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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