Delshah 60 Ninth, LLC v. Free People of PA LLC
- Jesse Furman
- 1:20-cv-05905
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
Judge Furman adopted the fee recommendation in Delshah 60 Ninth v. Free People of PA, granting the motion in part and denying it in part.
Delshah 60 Ninth, LLC received the recommended attorneys’ fees, litigation costs, and expert costs. Free People of PA LLC was affected by the fee award and the court’s ruling that it waived objections to the Report and Recommendation, subject to the reservation described by the court.
What happened
In Delshah 60 Ninth, LLC v. Free People of PA LLC, the court reviewed a recommendation on Delshah’s request for attorneys’ fees and costs. The recommendation proposed awarding Delshah $672,644.08 in attorneys’ fees, $18,588.40 in litigation costs, and $96,885.00 in expert costs, while granting the motion in part and denying it in part.
Free People filed an objection that reserved its ability to challenge the award if the Second Circuit later changed the ruling on liability. It did not object to the recommendation’s merits. The court therefore stated that Free People had waived its rights to object to the recommendation or obtain appellate review, while noting that Free People had reserved rights concerning a possible change affecting Delshah’s status as a winning party.
Judge Jesse M. Furman adopted the recommendation in its entirety after reviewing it and finding it well reasoned and supported by the facts and law. The clerk was directed to terminate the listed docket entry.
The detailed version
- Delshah 60 Ninth, LLC v. Free People of PA LLC · No. 1:20-cv-05905
- Jesse Furman
- Aug. 19, 2025
Background
The court had referred Delshah 60 Ninth, LLC’s motion for attorneys’ fees to Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave. Judge Cave issued a Report and Recommendation on July 31, 2025, recommending that the motion be granted in part and denied in part. The recommended awards were $672,644.08 in attorneys’ fees, $18,588.40 in litigation costs, and $96,885.00 in expert costs.
Objections and standard of review
The Report and Recommendation gave the parties fourteen days to object and warned that failing to object on time would waive the right to object. It also referred the parties to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 72 and 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1).
Free People filed an objection on August 14, 2025, but the objection only reserved its rights to challenge the fee award if the Second Circuit vacated or reversed the court’s judgment concerning liability. Free People did not object to the recommendation on its merits. The court stated that Free People therefore waived all rights to object to the Report and Recommendation or to obtain appellate review. Because there were no timely merits objections, the court reviewed the recommendation without such objections and applied the standard under which it needed to find only clear error on the face of the record.
Ruling
The court found the Report and Recommendation well reasoned and grounded in fact and law. Judge Jesse M. Furman therefore adopted it in its entirety. The resulting disposition was that Delshah’s attorneys’ fee motion was granted in part and denied in part, with the recommended awards of $672,644.08 in attorneys’ fees, $18,588.40 in litigation costs, and $96,885.00 in expert costs. The clerk was directed to terminate ECF No. 225. The court also noted that Free People had reserved its rights to challenge the fees and costs if a Second Circuit ruling affected whether Delshah was properly treated as a prevailing party.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.