Montera v. Premier Nutrition Corporation

Background

Mary Beth Montera obtained a jury verdict of $12,895,454.90. After an earlier order determined that the attorney fees would be shifted to the opposing party and calculated under the lodestar method, the court denied the original fee motion in relevant part but allowed Montera to file a renewed motion with additional documentation.

The case involved claims under New York General Business Law §§ 349 and 350. The court explained that the lodestar method calculates fees by multiplying the number of hours reasonably worked by a reasonable hourly rate. The party seeking fees has the burden of supporting the request, although the court may make practical, across-the-board reductions rather than audit every billing entry.

The parties’ positions

Montera requested $6,942,943.50 in fees and $1,072,126.04 in nontaxed expenses. Premier argued that Montera should receive only $2,406,809.00 in fees and that the expenses should be substantially reduced. Premier contended that work performed before November 2, 2021, should be divided among Montera and related cases, and that the lodestar should be reduced by 40% for alleged billing errors, block billing, overstaffing, travel time, and other issues.

The court rejected the apportionment argument. It found that earlier work in a related case and other related litigation substantially facilitated the successful result in Montera, including class-certification work, discovery, expert development, and motion practice. The court also found that the related cases had been handled jointly in many respects and that Premier had not identified binding authority requiring the requested apportionment. The court noted that counsel could not receive duplicative recovery if another related case also produced a successful result.

The court found counsel’s hours and billing structure generally reasonable and concluded that the requested rates were consistent with rates charged by similar firms in the district. It accepted current rather than historic rates because counsel had prosecuted the case for about a decade without compensation. The court reduced Blood Hurst & O’Reardon, LLP’s lodestar by 1.5% to account for possible additional undetected billing errors after that firm withdrew approximately $258,000 in identified billing entries. It did not reduce Lynch Carpenter, LLP’s lodestar because Premier identified no billing errors by that firm. The court also rejected the objections to expenses, noting that identified duplicate or disputed food and coffee expenses had already been withdrawn.

Ruling

Judge Richard Seeborg granted the renewed motion for attorney fees and expenses. The court awarded total attorney fees of $6,853,502.78: $5,873,274.28 to Blood Hurst & O’Reardon, LLP; $382,018.50 to Lynch Carpenter, LLP; and $598,210.00 to Iredale & Yoo, APC.

The court also awarded total nontaxed expenses of $1,072,126.04: $1,039,423.44 to Blood Hurst & O’Reardon, LLP; $8,709.80 to Lynch Carpenter, LLP; and $23,992.80 to Iredale & Yoo, APC. Consistent with the prior order, the amounts are subject to fee-shifting and must be paid in addition to the judgment amount. Any motion or stipulation concerning fees and costs incurred in litigating the prior and current fee motions had to be filed by October 6, 2023.