Innovative Sports Management, Inc. v. Gutierrez
- Beth Freeman
- 5:22-cv-05793
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 5
In Innovative Sports Management v. Gutierrez, Judge Freeman granted in part and denied in part a fee-and-cost motion, awarding $2,636.86.
Innovative Sports Management, Inc. received an award of $2,636.86 in attorneys’ fees and costs. The opinion does not further describe the effect of the award on the defendants.
What happened
In Innovative Sports Management, Inc. v. Gutierrez, the court had already entered a default judgment in favor of Innovative Sports Management, Inc. in a commercial piracy case and awarded $2,200 in damages.
The plaintiff then requested $4,025.55 in attorneys’ fees and $1,353.35 in costs. The court found the hourly rates reasonable but reduced the fees because the time records were reconstructed, some work was unnecessary or overstated, and administrative-assistant time was not separately recoverable. It also limited the costs to the complaint filing fee and service charges.
Judge Beth Freeman granted in part and denied in part the plaintiff’s motion and awarded Innovative Sports Management, Inc. a total of $2,636.86 in attorneys’ fees and costs.
The detailed version
- Innovative Sports Management, Inc. v. Gutierrez · No. 5:22-cv-05793
- Beth Freeman
- July 20, 2023
Background
On June 23, 2023, the Court granted Innovative Sports Management, Inc.’s motion for default judgment in a commercial piracy case. It awarded the plaintiff $2,200 in damages for conversion and under 47 U.S.C. § 553. The plaintiff later applied for attorneys’ fees and costs under § 553(c)(2)(C).
Attorneys’ Fees
The plaintiff requested $4,025.55 in fees based on 55 billing entries reconstructed from counsel’s review of the case file rather than contemporaneous time records. The request included time for a lead attorney, a research attorney, and an administrative assistant. The Court found the requested hourly rates reasonable.
The Court nevertheless found the reconstructed records less reliable and determined that some entries reflected unnecessary work or overstated the time reasonably attributable to particular tasks. It reduced the requested fee award by 25%, from $4,025.55 to $3,019.16. The Court then excluded $976.80 for the administrative assistant’s work, explaining that this type of expense is generally treated as firm overhead. The resulting attorneys’ fee award was $2,042.36.
Costs
The plaintiff requested $1,353.35 in costs, including the complaint filing fee, service-of-process charges, courier charges, and investigative expenses. The Court limited recoverable costs to the complaint filing fee and service-of-process charges.
Ruling
Judge Beth Freeman granted in part and denied in part the plaintiff’s motion for attorneys’ fees and costs. The Court awarded the plaintiff $2,636.86 in reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.