Carrington v. Graden
- Katherine Failla
- 1:18-cv-04609
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 40
In Carrington v. Graden, Judge Failla granted defendants’ fee motions in part after evidence-related sanctions, awarding attorneys’ fees and costs.
Rovier Carrington was ordered to pay the attorneys’ fees and costs awarded to the Viacom, Graden, and Grey Defendants for expenses tied to investigating and litigating the disputed communications. The defendants received the awards stated in the opinion, and the Viacom Defendants were permitted to seek additional reasonable fees and costs for preparing their fee petition.
What happened
In Carrington v. Graden, Rovier Carrington sued Brian Graden, Brian Graden Media, LLC, Viacom entities, Paramount Pictures Corporation, and the Grey Defendants over alleged misconduct and other claims. The court had previously dismissed Carrington’s claims with prejudice as a sanction after finding that he fabricated evidence, destroyed or compromised evidence, and obstructed the case.
The defendants then sought more than $700,000 in attorneys’ fees and about $47,000 in costs tied to investigating the disputed communications. The court reduced the requested amounts after reviewing hourly rates and billing records. It awarded $178,623.00 in fees and $2,726.50 in costs to the Viacom Defendants; $253,996.65 in fees and $39,815.05 in costs to the Graden Defendants; and $128,709.55 in fees and $4,123.34 in costs to the Grey Defendants.
Judge Katherine Polk Failla granted the defendants’ motions in part and allowed the Viacom Defendants to submit a supplemental request for fees and costs incurred preparing their fee petition. The opinion’s conclusion lists awards for the Viacom and Grey Defendants but omits the Graden Defendants’ award, although the opinion’s opening, discussion, and fee table include it.
The detailed version
- Carrington v. Graden · No. 1:18-cv-04609
- Katherine Failla
- Sept. 28, 2020
Background
Rovier Carrington brought claims involving alleged sexual offenses, unfair competition, fraud, misappropriation, federal antitrust violations, and New York State and City labor-law violations against Brian Graden, Brian Graden Media, LLC, Viacom, Inc., Viacom International, Inc., Paramount Pictures Corporation, Brad Grey, the Brad Grey Estate, and the Brad Alan Grey Trust.
The court’s fee ruling followed an earlier sanctions order. The court had found that Carrington fabricated or misrepresented evidence concerning emails attached to his amended complaint, destroyed or compromised evidence, and violated preservation and discovery orders. The court dismissed his claims against all defendants with prejudice as a terminating sanction. It declined to refer the case for criminal prosecution. Carrington later proceeded without a lawyer and did not oppose the fee motions in the manner required by the court.
Legal standard
The court relied on Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37 and its inherent authority to manage litigation. Rule 37 allows sanctions, including dismissal, when a party fails to obey a discovery order, and generally requires payment of reasonable expenses caused by that failure unless the failure was substantially justified or another circumstance would make an award unjust. The court also explained that its inherent authority permits fee awards for bad-faith litigation misconduct.
The court calculated reasonable attorneys’ fees using the lodestar method: a reasonable hourly rate multiplied by a reasonable number of hours. It reviewed the attorneys’ experience, prevailing rates in the Southern District of New York, the complexity of the evidence issues, and whether the hours billed were excessive, duplicative, or unnecessary.
Fee and cost rulings
The defendants initially sought $751,651.19, consisting of $704,986.30 in fees and $46,644.55 in costs. The court reduced the requested hourly rates for several attorneys and support professionals. It also reduced the Viacom Defendants’ and Graden Defendants’ fee calculations by 10 percent because of duplication or imprecision in the billing records. It reduced the Grey Defendants’ fee calculation by 15 percent because the billing was disproportionately concentrated in the highest-paid partner.
The opinion’s opening and detailed fee analysis state these awards:
- Viacom Defendants: $178,623.00 in attorneys’ fees and $2,726.50 in costs. - Graden Defendants: $253,996.65 in attorneys’ fees and $39,815.05 in costs. - Grey Defendants: $128,709.55 in attorneys’ fees and $4,123.34 in costs.
The court found the costs sufficiently documented and fairly traceable to Carrington’s conduct. The costs included forensic discovery services, legal research, litigation support, electronic-discovery services, data hosting, printing, scanning, mailing, and travel-related expenses.
The court also held that reasonable fees and costs incurred preparing and defending a fee application could be recoverable because they were traceable to the sanctionable conduct. It allowed the Viacom Defendants to submit a supplemental request for those additional amounts, using the same reasonable-rate analysis and subject to Carrington’s opportunity to respond.
Disposition
The court granted the defendants’ motions in part. It directed the Clerk of Court to terminate the motions at docket entries 151 and 156 and to mail Carrington a copy of the opinion and order.
There is an apparent inconsistency in the written conclusion: it lists the Viacom Defendants’ award and the Grey Defendants’ award but does not list the Graden Defendants’ award, even though the opinion’s opening paragraph, analysis, and fee table award the Graden Defendants $253,996.65 in fees and $39,815.05 in costs. The opinion also states a total costs figure of $46,664.89, which includes the Graden Defendants’ costs.
Read the full 40-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.