Higgins v. Boston Scientific Corporation

Background

This order addressed Relator Steven Higgins’s fee petition after an earlier sanctions order. The earlier order found that Boston Scientific violated Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 by failing to timely disclose certain witnesses and ordered Boston Scientific to pay Higgins’s reasonable costs and attorney’s fees related to briefing and arguing the sanctions motion. It excluded fees related to past or future discovery.

Judge Joan E. Ericksen later granted Boston Scientific’s motion for summary judgment, ending the litigation on the merits, but the fee petition remained pending. Judge Tony N. Leung concluded that the fee award was a nondispositive matter and that the court retained authority to decide it under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37.

Requested Fees and Costs

Higgins initially sought $114,086.88 in total: $73,194.50 in fees and costs related to the sanctions motion and $40,892.38 in fees for preparing and litigating the fee petition. Boston Scientific argued that the requested hourly rates and hours were unreasonable, that the costs were excessive or inadequately documented, and that the award should be reduced because Higgins obtained only 12 of the 31 requests made in the sanctions motion. Boston Scientific argued that Higgins should receive no more than $32,000.

The court used the lodestar method, which calculates fees by multiplying reasonable hours by reasonable hourly rates. It found that some requested rates were unreasonable for this discovery-related sanctions motion and set the following rates: $250 for paralegal David Filbert; $740 for partners Dan Miller and Susan Thomas; $645 for partner Joy Clairmont; $425 for associate Jonathan DeSantis; and $450 for associate William Ellerbe.

Fees and Expenses for the Sanctions Motion

The court excluded time spent preparing the initial letter to Magistrate Judge Rau, including entries for work completed before August 23, 2019. After applying the adjusted rates, the lodestar was $65,132. The court found that the overall time spent on the sanctions motion and related travel was supported by the record, but reduced the lodestar by 20 percent because certain billing entries were vague, block-billed, or appeared unrelated to the sanctions motion. This produced a lodestar of $52,105.60.

The court then applied an additional 25-percent reduction. It considered the results obtained, the complexity and contentiousness of the discovery dispute, the experience of Higgins’s attorneys, and the court’s view that an approximately $55,000 award for the sanctions motion was unreasonably high. The resulting fee award was $39,079.20. The court also allowed $2,565.38 in expenses, including travel expenses for arguing the sanctions motion, for a total of $41,644.58 related to that motion.

Fees for Preparing the Fee Petition

The court allowed recovery for reasonable attorney time spent preparing and litigating the fee petition. After applying the adjusted hourly rates, it calculated a $38,267 lodestar for this work. Unlike the entries for the sanctions motion, these entries were clearly described, so the court did not apply the 20-percent vague-entry reduction.

The court nevertheless found the $38,267 request excessive because it was nearly as large as the award for the underlying sanctions motion. It applied a 30-percent reduction and awarded $26,786.90 for preparing and litigating the fee petition.

Disposition

Judge Tony N. Leung ordered that Higgins’s Fee Petition Arising from Sanctions Order was "GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART." The order required Boston Scientific to pay Higgins $68,431.48 within 30 days as reasonable compensation for attorney’s fees and costs incurred in connection with briefing and arguing the sanctions motion. The total consisted of $39,079.20 in fees for the sanctions motion, $2,565.38 in related expenses, and $26,786.90 for the fee petition.