Griffen Security, LLC v. Thompson

Background

Griffen Security, LLC brought a diversity action alleging that Citadel Car Alarms, LLC and four individual defendants wrongfully terminated a patent license agreement effective May 25, 2018. Citadel was served but did not respond, and the Clerk entered a certificate of default. After a show-cause hearing, the court granted Griffen’s application for a default judgment. The individual defendants settled, and the case was referred to Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein for an inquest to determine damages.

Griffen sought $115,112 in attorneys’ fees and $4,257.78 in costs. The license agreement stated that, in a dispute, the court would award reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs to the party that prevailed. Applying New York law, the report concluded that a default judgment made Griffen the prevailing party and that the contractual fee provision permitted an award of reasonable fees and costs.

Attorneys’ fees

The report applied the lodestar method, which calculates fees by multiplying reasonable hours by reasonable hourly rates. It found the requested rates for most attorneys reasonable, but reduced Jacqueline Meyer’s rate from $540 to $470 per hour because she served as local counsel and the court identified effective attorneys who could have charged less. It reduced the paralegal’s rate from $130 to $75 per hour because no special expertise had been shown and the matter involved a default judgment.

The attorneys claimed 258.4 hours, and the paralegal claimed 24.4 hours. The report found that many entries involved the individual defendants, settlement discussions, and a settlement conference, rather than obtaining relief from Citadel. It therefore reduced the claimed hours by 65 percent. The resulting recommended fee award was $39,490.50.

Costs and recommended disposition

The report found most of Griffen’s $4,257.78 in costs reasonable, including filing, service, delivery, electronic-record, admission, and travel expenses. It deducted $1,077.96 for Hansen’s travel and other expenses related to the December 16, 2019 settlement conference because that conference occurred after Citadel defaulted and Citadel could not legally appear. The recommended costs award was $3,179.82.

Magistrate Judge Gorenstein recommended that Griffen Security, LLC be awarded a judgment against Citadel Car Alarms, LLC for $42,670.32. The document is a report and recommendation, not an order stating that the district judge entered the judgment. It directed Griffen to mail the report to Citadel and file proof of mailing within seven days. The parties had 14 days after service to file objections, and any request for an extension was to be directed to Judge Vernon Broderick.