Boyce v. Weber

Background

Jason Boyce’s expert witness, Dr. Ho, refused to answer certain questions during a deposition. Boyce insisted that the deposition end early so the court could evaluate an objection by his counsel. After briefing and argument on January 24, 2020, the court concluded that Boyce’s objections were not well founded. It ordered Boyce either to produce Dr. Ho for a seven-hour deposition in Los Angeles, unless the parties agreed on another location, and pay defense counsel’s time and travel and the court-reporter cost, or to forgo Dr. Ho’s testimony.

Boyce chose the second deposition, which occurred on February 6, 2020. Defendants then sought more than $107,534.23 in fees and costs.

Ruling on Second-Deposition Fees and Costs

Defendants sought $54,857.00 in attorney fees and $12,040.62 in costs for the second deposition. The court accepted counsel’s hourly rates as reasonable for this motion but refused to charge Boyce for additional preparation time that defendants chose to spend preparing again for the deposition. The court awarded fees for the deposition day—11 hours for each attorney—and half of Ms. Weintraub’s travel time, totaling $24,385.00 in attorney fees.

Defendants also sought reimbursement for first-class or business-class airfare, a hotel stay, and deposition-related services. The court reduced the requested airfare by half and found the hotel rate reasonable, awarding $2,992.92 for travel and hotel costs. It rejected charges for transcript preparation because the earlier order required payment for a court reporter, not a free deposition. It awarded $829.25 for the deposition’s hourly and video charges. The total costs awarded were $3,822.17.

Other Requests

Defendants sought $40,636.61 for responding to Boyce’s January 15, 2020 letter motion for a protective order concerning Dr. Ho’s deposition. The court denied that request as an untimely request for reconsideration because defendants did not raise the fee request when the court ruled on January 24. The court alternatively denied it on the merits because it had previously determined that other relief was appropriate and because the amount was excessive compared with the work performed.

Defendants also sought an undisclosed amount for preparing and filing the fee motion. The court denied that request because Boyce had offered $28,000 to resolve the dispute, and defendants’ refusal to accept that compromise and insistence on filing the motion was unreasonable.

Disposition

The court granted defendants’ motion in part and denied it in part. It ordered Boyce to pay $24,385.00 in attorney fees and $3,822.17 in costs, for a total award of $28,207.17. The court asked the clerk to terminate the motion at ECF No. 103.