Mason Tenders District Council Welfare Fund v. Gibraltar

Background

The case arose under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Judge Torres previously granted summary judgment for the plaintiffs on January 6, 2020, and entered an amended order on January 14, 2020. The February 18, 2020 judgment awarded the plaintiffs, among other things, reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs to be determined by a later motion. The case was reassigned to Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, and the fee issue was referred to Magistrate Judge Cott.

Fee Request and Recommendation

The plaintiffs moved for $174,671.50 in attorneys’ fees and $7,339.25 in costs, for a total request of $182,010.75. Magistrate Judge Cott recommended a 20 percent reduction in the requested attorneys’ fees, resulting in $139,737.20 in fees, while awarding the full $7,339.25 in costs. The recommended total was $147,076.45.

The recommended reduction addressed several billing concerns: a senior associate with the second-highest hourly rate performed a large amount of document review that would have been better suited for a junior associate; the attorneys billed somewhat excessive deposition time; some billing entries were vague; and some entries used block billing, meaning multiple tasks were combined into one time entry.

District Court’s Ruling

No party filed objections to the report and recommendation. Although a full new review was not required because no timely objections were made, Judge Vyskocil reviewed the report and recommendation and found no error, clear or otherwise. She adopted Magistrate Judge Cott’s report and recommendation in its entirety.

The court’s order states that the plaintiffs’ motion for attorneys’ fees and costs was GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. The Clerk was directed to enter judgment for the plaintiffs for $147,076.45, consisting of $139,737.20 in attorneys’ fees and $7,339.25 in costs, terminate the fee motion, and close the case.