G.C. v. South Washington County School District 833

Background

The defendants previously moved for an order requiring the plaintiffs to pay fees owed to the defendants’ experts for depositions, clarifying that the defendants were not responsible for the plaintiffs’ expert’s fees for an August 2, 2018 deposition, requiring reimbursement for costs and fees connected with that deposition, and awarding the defendants the fees and costs of bringing the motion.

The court previously granted in part and denied in part that motion. It ordered the plaintiffs to pay the defendants’ experts’ deposition fees and to pay the defendants’ reasonable costs and fees incurred in bringing the motion to compel payment of those deposition fees. It denied the request for costs and fees in all other respects. The court then required the defendants to submit an itemized affidavit and allowed the plaintiffs to respond.

Fee Request

The defendants sought $5,427.12. The plaintiffs agreed that $1,922.00 was clearly identifiable as costs incurred in bringing the portion of the motion concerning payment of the defendants’ expert fees. The plaintiffs disputed the remaining $3,505.12.

The defendants acknowledged that the disputed amount was not based on billing entries specifically allocated to the fee-related portion of the motion. Instead, it represented 25 percent of $14,020.50 in billing entries that the defendants said were generally related to the motion but covered multiple issues. The plaintiffs argued that no more than 10 percent of the total time should be awarded.

Court’s Analysis

The court explained that attorney-fee awards are typically calculated using the lodestar method: the reasonable number of hours worked multiplied by reasonable hourly rates. The court accepted the defendants’ requested hourly rates of $225 and $190, which the plaintiffs did not dispute.

The court found that the defendants adequately documented the $1,922.00 request but failed to adequately document the additional $3,505.12. The billing entries did not separate time spent on the issue for which fees were awarded from time spent on issues for which the court had denied fees. Because the court could not determine the appropriate fee from the records, it reduced the award rather than accepting the full request.

The court reduced the defendants’ share of the general billing entries from 25 percent to 15 percent. It did not exclude all of the disputed billing time because the motion addressed multiple issues and the court found that completely excluding the time would be inappropriate.

Disposition

The court ordered the plaintiffs to pay the defendants $4,025.07 as reasonable compensation for attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in connection with the motion to compel payment. Payment was due within 30 days of the order. The order also stated that prior consistent orders remained in effect and described possible remedies for noncompliance.

The order is classified as a procedural order because it awarded fees and costs connected with an earlier discovery-related motion rather than deciding the parties’ underlying claims. The opinion is signed by United States Magistrate Judge Tony N. Leung, although the supplied case metadata identifies David Doty as the judge.