Banga v. Kanios
- Richard Seeborg
- 3:16-cv-04270
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 5
In Banga v. Kanios, Judge Seeborg set the expert deposition fee at $800 per hour and allocated payment between the parties.
Navjeet Singh Banga, the defendants, and Sidney P. Blum were affected. The order set Blum’s deposition fee and allocated payment responsibility between Banga and the defendants.
What happened
In Banga v. Kanios, the court resolved a dispute over the fee for deposing Navjeet Singh Banga’s economic-damages expert, Sidney P. Blum. Blum had proposed different rates, including a $6,500 flat daily fee, while the defendants challenged the amount and payment terms.
The court found the increase from an earlier $800 hourly rate to the $6,500 flat fee unreasonable. It also found that the defendants had not shown that $800 per hour was unreasonable, even though their own expert charged $375 per hour.
Judge Seeborg ordered that Blum be paid $800 per hour. The defendants must pay $750 per hour, Banga must pay the remaining $50, and the parties must arrange a videoconference deposition. They must pay for three hours at least 72 hours in advance, with additional time paid after the deposition.
The detailed version
- Banga v. Kanios · No. 3:16-cv-04270
- Richard Seeborg
- Mar. 24, 2021
Background
The court considered a joint discovery letter about the deposition fee for Sidney P. Blum, an economic-damages expert identified by Navjeet Singh Banga. Banga’s expert disclosure stated that Blum’s deposition and trial testimony rate was $750 per hour. Blum’s report later stated that his rate was $6,500 per day for deposition and trial testimony, equivalent to $928.57 per hour. Banga sought an order requiring the defendants to pay Blum’s fee and costs under the rate he claimed.
The defendants argued that Blum was not entitled to a flat fee, that the proposed rates were unreasonable, and that they did not have to pay before the deposition. They asked the court to require Blum to appear and set a reasonable rate under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(4)(E).
Legal standard
Rule 26(b)(4)(E) generally requires the party seeking discovery from an expert to pay the expert a reasonable fee for time spent responding to discovery, unless doing so would cause manifest injustice. The court explained that determining a reasonable fee is within the court’s discretion.
Court’s analysis
The court found that Blum’s fee had changed from $800 per hour in a July 8, 2020 email to Banga to a $6,500 flat fee, or $928.57 per hour, less than a week later. Neither Banga nor Blum clearly explained the increase. The court therefore found the increase unreasonable and held that Banga and Blum were bound by the $800 hourly rate stated in the email.
The court also found the $6,500 flat fee unreasonable because an expert’s compensation should have a reasonable relationship to the services provided. The court noted that the case was not complex, the deposition would be conducted remotely without travel, and the deposition would likely last several hours rather than a full day. The defendants’ evidence that their own economic-damages expert charged $375 per hour did not, by itself, establish that Blum’s $800 hourly rate was unreasonable.
Order
The court ordered that Blum be paid a reasonable fee of $800 per hour for deposition testimony. Because Banga initially represented that Blum’s rate was $750 per hour, the defendants were ordered to pay $750 per hour and Banga was ordered to pay the remaining $50 per hour.
The parties were ordered to meet and confer immediately to select a videoconference deposition date. They were required to pay Blum for three hours of testimony at the $800 hourly rate at least 72 hours before the deposition. Any additional hours, up to seven total, were to be paid within 24 hours after the deposition.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.