Downes v. Unum Life Insurance Company of America
- Richard Seeborg
- 3:23-cv-01643
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 5
In Downes v. Unum, Judge Seeborg granted Downes’s motion for $97,965 in attorney fees and $625.07 in costs under ERISA.
Maureen Downes received the fee and cost award, and Unum Life Insurance Company of America was ordered to pay it.
What happened
In Downes v. Unum Life Insurance Company of America, Maureen Downes had won her claim concerning the denial of long-term disability benefits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a federal employee-benefits law. She then requested $97,965 in attorney fees and $625.07 in costs.
The court found that Downes had succeeded on the merits and that no special circumstances justified denying fees. It also found the requested hourly rate, hours, attorney work, and costs reasonable, including 108.85 hours at $900 per hour.
Judge Richard Seeborg granted Downes’s motion and ordered Unum Life Insurance Company of America to pay $97,965 in attorney fees and $625.07 in costs and expenses.
The detailed version
- Downes v. Unum Life Insurance Company of America · No. 3:23-cv-01643
- Richard Seeborg
- Nov. 22, 2024
Background
Maureen Downes sued Unum Life Insurance Company of America under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), alleging that Unum improperly denied her long-term disability benefits. Downes obtained a favorable judgment on her sole claim and then moved for an award of $97,965 in attorney fees and $625.07 in costs.
Attorney-fee standard
ERISA allows a court to award reasonable attorney fees and costs to either party. A party seeking fees must have achieved some degree of success on the merits. The court explained that a prevailing plaintiff ordinarily should receive fees unless special circumstances weigh against an award. Because Downes had unambiguously won judgment on her only claim, the court concluded that it did not need to apply the five-factor analysis sometimes used in ERISA fee decisions.
Reasonableness of the request
Downes’s counsel used the lodestar method, which calculates fees by multiplying reasonable hours by a reasonable hourly rate. Counsel requested compensation for 108.85 hours at a current rate of $900 per hour, totaling $97,965.
Unum argued that the $900 hourly rate was excessive, challenged the increases in counsel’s rates over time, questioned the absence of declarations from two attorneys who performed minimal work, objected to allegedly duplicative work, and argued that historical rather than current rates should be used. The court rejected these arguments. It relied on declarations from attorneys in the ERISA field who charged comparable rates, prior decisions approving similar rates, counsel’s sworn declaration concerning current clients, and detailed time records. The court also found that the work by the two attorneys who billed minimal hours was de minimis compared with the total hours and that consultation among attorneys could be compensable. It further concluded that using counsel’s current rate was appropriate because much of the work occurred in 2024.
Unum did not contest the requested $625.07 in costs, and the court independently found that amount fair and reasonable.
Disposition
The court granted Downes’s motion for an award of attorney fees and costs. It ordered Unum Life Insurance Company of America to pay Downes $97,965 in attorney fees and $625.07 in fees, costs, and expenses.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.