Williams v. Block.One

Background

The opinion addresses two securities class actions against Block.one and its leaders for alleged violations of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Exchange Act of 1934. The lead plaintiff moved for class certification and final approval of an amended settlement agreement. It also filed an amended request for attorneys’ fees and expenses. The court had previously required additional information about the work of James Koutoulas and Ievgeniia Vatrenko, and they submitted declarations in response.

Fee method and calculations

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(h) allows a court to award reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs in a certified class action. The court used the lodestar method, which determines a fee by multiplying the reasonable number of hours worked by a reasonable hourly rate. Counsel initially proposed a total lodestar of $3,067,884.50 for 4,218.75 hours.

For Grant & Eisenhofer P.A., the court found the requested hours reasonable and the attorneys’ hourly rates appropriate, but capped paralegal rates at $200 per hour. That reduction lowered the firm’s requested amount from $2,369,274.50 to an award of $2,343,842.50.

For Koutoulas Law, LLC, the court found that 1.5 hours spent advocating for attorneys’ fees were not compensable. It also found that the requested $800 hourly rate for James Koutoulas was unsupported and set a reasonable rate of $400 per hour. The resulting award was $146,440.

For Ievgeniia P. Vatrenko, the court reduced the compensable time from 462.5 hours to 452.3 hours because some time was spent advocating for attorneys’ fees. It found her requested $700 hourly rate reasonable and awarded $316,610.

For Bluhm Legal Clinic, the court found the requested 200.55 hours and J. Samuel Tenenbaum’s $400 hourly rate reasonable and awarded $79,900.

The court also granted the request for reimbursement of $81,599.31 in expenses, finding nothing objectionable about the expenses. The total attorneys’ fee award was $2,886,792.50. The court said a percentage comparison supported the reasonableness of that award: it was approximately 13 percent of the $22 million common fund and approximately 26 percent of the $8,186,000 expected to be distributed to claimants.

Ruling

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan granted the lead plaintiff’s amended motion for an award of attorneys’ fees and expenses to the stated extent. The order awarded Grant & Eisenhofer P.A. $2,343,842.50 in attorneys’ fees and $81,599.31 in expenses; Koutoulas Law, LLC $146,440; Ievgeniia Vatrenko $316,610; and Bluhm Legal Clinic $79,900.