City of Almaty, Kazahkstan v. Mukhtar Ablyazov

Background

The court had previously granted Defendant Triadou SPV S.A.’s motion for sanctions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37 based on Plaintiffs’ conduct during the deposition of Kairat Sadykov. The court had determined that Triadou was entitled to 50 percent of its attorneys’ fees and costs connected with that deposition. The deposition lasted two hours.

Triadou submitted an application seeking $24,415.65 in attorneys’ fees and $330.73 in costs. Its request covered work related to the deposition and letters concerning Plaintiffs’ conduct, as well as preparation of the fee application. The work was performed by four Blank Rome lawyers: Deborah Skakel, Alex Hassid, Robyn Michaelson, and Shareen Sarwar. Triadou stated that it had reduced certain billing entries by 20 percent and capped the time requested for preparing the fee application at 11 hours.

Legal Standard

The court explained that the party seeking fees bears the burden of showing that the requested rates and hours are reasonable. Courts generally calculate a presumptively reasonable fee, called the lodestar, by multiplying a reasonable hourly rate by the number of hours reasonably spent. Courts may exclude excessive, redundant, or unnecessary work. The court also may consider that the fees were sought as a discovery sanction rather than as compensation for winning a claim.

Court’s Analysis

The court found the requested hourly rates reasonable. The rates were the lawyers’ regular rates, subject to a 10 percent discount, and similar rates had been approved in comparable Southern District of New York matters. The court also noted that it had previously approved similarly high rates in this case.

The court did not approve all of the requested hours. It determined that Triadou was entitled to $1,040.73 for the deposition-related sanction—consisting of one hour of Mr. Hassid’s time and half the deposition-transcript cost. The court separately approved $5,640.75 for preparing the attorneys’ fee application because Triadou had to file that application to obtain the award and the time spent was reasonable.

The court rejected additional compensation for preparing the letters concerning the deposition. It stated that it had already decided not to award Triadou fees for that work and that the application did not change that view. The court also said that the preparation of two short letters did not justify the requested $18,774.90 and that discovery sanctions should be requested sparingly.

Disposition

The court awarded Triadou $6,350.75 in attorneys’ fees and $330.73 in costs. Plaintiffs’ objections to the earlier sanctions decision remained pending. The award would be payable only if Judge Alison J. Nathan adopted the earlier decision; if she did, Plaintiffs would have 30 days after that ruling to pay the amounts awarded.