Major League Baseball Properties v. Corporacion de Television y Microonda Rafa

Background

Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. (MLB) sought attorney’s fees and costs incurred in a federal court proceeding to confirm and enforce an arbitration award against Corporacion de Television y Microonda Rafa, S.A. (Telemicro). The underlying dispute involved Telemicro’s failure to make payments required for broadcast rights under a contract. The arbitrator issued a final award on May 29, 2019, awarding MLB more than $5 million in various damages, along with attorney’s fees and costs connected to collecting the award and converting it into a court judgment.

The district court later granted MLB summary judgment and confirmed the arbitration award. It also ruled that the award allowed MLB to recover attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing the confirmation petition. The court instructed MLB to submit documentation supporting the reasonable costs and disbursements incurred from the date of the arbitration award through the judgment and enforcement proceedings.

Legal Standard

The court applied New York law because the contract stated that New York law governed it. Under that law, a contractual attorney’s-fee provision may be enforced, but the amount awarded must be reasonable and supported by information showing the time spent and prevailing hourly rates for comparable legal work.

The court explained that a reasonable hourly rate is the rate a reasonable paying client would accept, considering the rates charged in the community for lawyers with reasonably comparable skill, experience, and reputation. The court also considered whether the work was appropriately staffed and whether the time claimed was reasonably spent.

Hourly Rates

MLB requested discounted hourly rates of $1,083.75 for Steven Kobre, $845.75 for Josef M. Klazen, and $590.75 for Joshua C. Kushner. The court found that MLB had provided too little information about prevailing rates and the attorneys’ backgrounds to support those amounts. It also found that the case was not complex because it was a petition to confirm an arbitration award and involved no discovery.

The court awarded hourly rates of $650 for Kobre, $500 for Klazen, and $300 for Kushner.

Hours and Block Billing

MLB sought compensation for 282.6 hours, using summary charts rather than contemporaneous time records. The charts grouped multiple tasks into blocks covering weeks or months. Telemicro objected to the block billing, alleged duplicative or excessive work, and argued that some tasks could have been performed by more junior attorneys or staff.

The court found that the lack of detail made it difficult to evaluate the reasonableness of the hours. It was particularly concerned that 126.6 hours had been billed for preparing a straightforward petition whose exhibits mainly consisted of existing documents. The court reduced the overall hours by 25 percent.

Award

After applying the reduced hourly rates and hours, the court calculated the attorney’s-fee award as follows:

- Steven Kobre: $2,990.00 - Josef M. Klazen: $23,150.00 - Joshua C. Kushner: $45,960.00 - Total attorney’s fees: $72,100.00

MLB also requested $4,520.39 in costs for translation services, a special Westlaw database, and FedEx expenses. Because Telemicro did not make specific objections to those costs, the court awarded them in full.

Disposition

The court awarded MLB $72,100.00 in attorney’s fees and $4,520.39 in costs, for a total award of $76,620.39.