Innovative Sports Management, Inc. d/b/a Integrated Sports Media v. Guerrero

Background

An earlier order granted Innovative Sports Management, Inc. default judgment and awarded $9,050 against Jeanette Ruiz Arias and 818 Sports Bar & Grill, Inc. for pirating a soccer-game broadcast in violation of 47 U.S.C. § 553. That order allowed the plaintiff to seek reasonable attorney’s fees. The plaintiff then requested $10,291.90 in attorney’s fees and $3,379.77 in costs.

Attorney’s Fees

The court explained that an award under § 553 is discretionary. It primarily used the lodestar method, which calculates fees by multiplying reasonable hours by reasonable hourly rates. The court found the requested hourly rates reasonable but rejected several categories of billed time.

The court found that Attorney Riley’s non-travel work was unreasonable because some tasks were duplicative, clerical, or could have been performed while traveling. It also found that the administrative assistants’ work consisted of clerical tasks that should have been treated as firm overhead rather than billed as attorney’s fees. After excluding those hours, the court calculated a lodestar of $5,399.50 for 17.54 hours of travel time and research-attorney work.

The court then reduced that amount by 25 percent because counsel reconstructed the billing records rather than recording the hours contemporaneously. It separately reduced the research attorney’s and Attorney Riley’s billable amounts by 25 percent because the case did not present unusual challenges and extensive research was unnecessary. These reductions produced a total fee award of $2,699.75.

The court also cross-checked that amount against the percentage-of-recovery method. Twenty-five percent of the previously awarded $9,050 in damages was $2,262.50, which the court said was consistent with its lodestar calculation.

Costs

The plaintiff requested $3,379.77 in costs, most of which consisted of travel and investigative expenses. The court declined to award pre-filing investigative expenses and courier fees. It also reduced the travel costs by half because of relatively expensive flights and a hotel stay. After adding the filing fee and service-of-process charges, the court awarded $1,560.74 in costs.

Ruling

Judge William Alsup ordered that the plaintiff’s motion for attorney’s fees be GRANTED IN PART. The plaintiff was awarded $2,699.75 in attorney’s fees and $1,560.74 in costs, for a total of $4,260.49. The court stated that final judgment reflecting this award and the prior damages award would be entered.