TD Bank, N.A. v. Miller
- Victor Marrero
- 1:18-cv-10608
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 12
In TD Bank v. Miller, Judge Marrero awarded TD Bank $91,887.79 in fees and costs under a guaranty.
TD Bank, N.A. received a $91,887.79 award of attorneys’ fees and costs against Barbara Miller under the guaranty.
What happened
TD Bank, N.A. v. Miller concerned TD Bank’s request for attorneys’ fees and litigation costs after the court granted TD Bank summary judgment on one claim involving a guaranty signed by Barbara Miller’s late husband. The earlier order awarded TD Bank $1,847,304.63 under the guaranty.
TD Bank requested $96,439.79 for work by three attorneys and a paralegal, plus litigation expenses. Barbara Miller argued that fees for the case’s fraudulent-transfer claim and earlier periods should be excluded or reduced because summary judgment covered only the guaranty-related claim. TD Bank argued that the claims involved the same facts and legal theories and that the guaranty covered all collection expenses.
Judge Victor Marrero awarded TD Bank $91,887.79 in fees and costs. He found the attorney rates reasonable, reduced the paralegal rate from $210 to $150 per hour, and declined to reduce the award for work on the fraudulent-transfer claim because the two claims were substantially intertwined and the guaranty covered expenses regardless of the success of collection efforts.
The detailed version
- TD Bank, N.A. v. Miller · No. 1:18-cv-10608
- Victor Marrero
- Nov. 23, 2020
Background
TD Bank sued Barbara Miller over a debt connected to a guaranty of payment signed by Miller’s late husband, Michael Miller. TD Bank’s amended complaint included a declaratory-judgment claim concerning property transferred after his death and a fraudulent-transfer claim. On September 9, 2020, the court granted TD Bank summary judgment on Count One and held that TD Bank was entitled to $1,847,304.63 under the guaranty.
The guaranty stated that the guarantor would pay TD Bank’s expenses in collecting the obligations, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, regardless of the manner or success of the collection effort. The court then directed the parties to address the amount of reasonable fees and costs.
Parties’ Positions
TD Bank initially sought $96,439.79 in fees and costs for work performed from November 2018 through September 2020. The request was based on billing rates of $509 per hour for the chairman, $410 for a partner, $250 for an associate, and $210 for a paralegal, along with litigation expenses.
Miller argued that TD Bank should recover only fees and costs connected to Count One. She sought to exclude work performed before the amended complaint, reduce by one-half the work performed while both counts were being litigated, and exclude work related to Count Two. Miller calculated that the reasonable award was $42,486.62. TD Bank responded that it had not been unsuccessful on Count Two because the court had not decided that claim, and that both counts involved overlapping facts and legal theories.
Court’s Analysis
The court explained that a reasonable fee is generally calculated by multiplying a reasonable hourly rate by a reasonable number of hours. It found the three attorney rates reasonable. It found the $210 hourly rate for the paralegal high for the district and reduced it to $150 because TD Bank had not provided information supporting the higher rate.
The court rejected Miller’s request to exclude or reduce fees related to Count Two. It stated that TD Bank had not been found unsuccessful on that count because the court had not ruled on its merits. The court also held that the two counts were substantially intertwined: both concerned the guaranty, whether Miller’s late husband’s debt remained owed, and whether TD Bank was entitled to transferred assets. The court further found that Count Two was not excessive, redundant, or unnecessary.
The court also held that the guaranty’s language supported awarding fees for the litigation of both counts. In the court’s view, excluding fees for claims that did not produce the judgment would conflict with the guaranty’s provision covering expenses regardless of the success of collection efforts.
Disposition
The court directed the Clerk to enter judgment for TD Bank for $91,887.79 in fees and costs. The award consisted of $3,436.49 in costs and $88,451.30 in attorneys’ fees. The attorneys’ fees were calculated using 303.4 associate hours at $250 per hour, 3.6 partner hours at $410 per hour, 16.7 chairman hours at $509 per hour, and 17.5 paralegal hours at $150 per hour. Judge Victor Marrero signed the decision and order.
Read the full 12-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.