Wilkins v. Simmons Bank

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS NORTHERN DIVISION

SHUNDA WILKINS and DAVID WATSON on behalf of themselves and all others □ similarly situated PLAINTIFFS

v. No. 3:20-cv-116-DPM

SIMMONS BANK DEFENDANT

ORDER Simmons Bank’s motion for attorneys’ fees and prejudgment interest, Doc. 67, is granted as modified. The Court appreciates the Bank’s reductions, but the market rate for a lawyer’s work collecting a debt in the Eastern District of Arkansas is no more than $150 per hour. But for Wilkins’s opposition, this dispute could have been litigated well and completely in a few hours. Considering the context, and all the material circumstances, twenty hours of time is fair. The Court, therefore, awards a reasonable fee of $3,000.00 ($150 x 20 = $3,000.00). Chrisco v. Sun Industries, Inc., 304 Ark. 227, 800 S.W.2d 717 (1990). The Bank is entitled to prejudgment interest on the $510.21 that Wilkins owed when her account was closed on 21 December 2017. The parties have no dispute: absent an agreement otherwise, Arkansas law supports an award of prejudgment interest at six percent. ARK. CODE ANN. § 4-57-101(d); Doc. 68 at 6 & Doc. 69 at 1 n.1. The Court therefore

awards prejudgment interest on the negative balance to date of $117.88 and $0.0839 per day until the debt is paid. The Court will withhold Judgment until the end of the case. So Ordered.

D.P. Marshall Jr. United States District Judge AS Ocfeher 202!

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