Gym Door Repairs, Inc. v. Young Equipment Sales, Inc.
- John Koeltl
- 1:15-cv-04244
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 18
In Gym Door Repairs v. Young Equipment, Judge Koeltl awarded Total Gym $91,810 in fees and partly granted cost appeals.
The plaintiffs, the Guardian Defendants, Total Gym Repairs, the State of New York, and other defendants seeking or opposing attorney’s fees and taxable costs were affected. Total Gym received a $91,810.00 attorney-fee award; the Guardian Defendants received approval to pursue fees and certain deposition costs; and the cost appeals were granted in part and denied in part.
What happened
Gym Door Repairs, Inc. and Safepath Systems LLC sued numerous defendants over alleged intellectual-property violations and related claims. The claims were resolved before this order, and the court considered attorney-fee requests and challenges to the Clerk’s cost decisions.
The court held that the case was exceptional and that the Guardian Defendants and Total Gym Repairs were entitled to attorney’s fees. It awarded Total Gym $91,810 in fees, allowed the Guardian Defendants to provide additional documentation for a fee calculation, and ruled that certain deposition costs could be recovered while meals, mileage, and parking could not.
Judge John G. Koeltl adopted the magistrate judge’s recommendation in part. He granted in part Total Gym’s fee motion, granted the Guardian Defendants’ fee motion, and granted in part and denied in part the appeals of the Clerk’s cost taxations, remanding fee and cost calculations for further proceedings.
The detailed version
- Gym Door Repairs, Inc. v. Young Equipment Sales, Inc. · No. 1:15-cv-04244
- John Koeltl
- Mar. 26, 2021
Background
Gym Door Repairs, Inc. and Safepath Systems LLC sued 19 defendants, alleging patent, copyright, and trademark infringement, unfair competition, tortious interference with business relationships, and civil conspiracy. The court had previously dismissed most claims on summary judgment, and the Young Defendants later settled the remaining copyright claim. The court had entered judgment dismissing all claims and counterclaims with prejudice. The remaining disputes concerned attorney’s fees and taxable litigation costs.
The Guardian Defendants and Total Gym Repairs moved for attorney’s fees and costs. Defendant Carl Thurnau sought costs on behalf of the State of New York. The Clerk issued cost decisions, and the plaintiffs and the Guardian Defendants appealed those decisions. Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang issued a Report and Recommendation addressing the fee motions and cost appeals. The parties objected to that recommendation.
Attorney’s Fees
The court concluded that the Guardian Defendants and Total Gym were prevailing parties entitled to attorney’s fees under fee-shifting provisions of the Lanham Act, patent law, and copyright law. Under the Lanham Act, fees may be awarded in an “exceptional” case. The court agreed that this case was exceptional because it found that the plaintiffs pursued untenable claims against competitors, asserted claims based on theories rejected in other cases, sought more than $60 million initially, continued litigating after summary judgment through unsuccessful sanctions motions, and failed to comply with discovery-disclosure requirements in a manner the court had previously described as “egregious.”
Total Gym
Total Gym requested $119,587.50 for 478.35 hours at $250 per hour. The court found the hourly rate reasonable but agreed that some hours were excessive. It approved a 20% reduction and awarded Total Gym $91,810.00 in attorney’s fees. The conclusion states that Total Gym’s motion for attorney’s fees was granted in part, with that award.
Guardian Defendants
The court agreed that the Guardian Defendants were entitled to attorney’s fees but disagreed with denying any award solely because their initial submission lacked sufficient documentation. Because the Guardian Defendants had provided an estimate in their motion and submitted billing records with their objections, the court allowed them to substantiate their request. The court granted the Guardian Defendants’ motion for attorney’s fees and remanded the matter to Magistrate Judge Wang for a Report and Recommendation on the appropriate amount.
Costs
The court ruled that the defendants were entitled to taxable costs allowed by federal law and the applicable local rule. It agreed that deposition transcripts were taxable when the depositions appeared reasonably necessary to the litigation when taken, including the deposition of Stephen J. Cole. It also ruled that transcript costs for discovery conferences were taxable when they were relevant and had been ordered by the magistrate judge.
The court upheld the denial of costs for meals, mileage, and parking. It also ruled that, because the defendants closely coordinated their litigation and shared discovery costs, they could collectively recover the cost of only the original deposition transcript plus one copy of each transcript. Each defendant seeking reimbursement was entitled only to its pro rata share.
The court therefore granted in part and denied in part the plaintiffs’ and Guardian Defendants’ appeals of the Clerk’s Taxations of Costs. It remanded the matter to Magistrate Judge Wang to determine the precise costs owed to the Guardian Defendants, Total Gym, and the State of New York.
Disposition
Judge Koeltl adopted the Report and Recommendation in part. Total Gym’s motion for attorney’s fees, ECF No. 896, was granted in part, with an award of $91,810.00. The Guardian Defendants’ motion for attorney’s fees, ECF No. 899, was granted, with the amount to be determined after further proceedings. The appeals of the Clerk’s Taxations of Costs, ECF Nos. 951 and 963, were granted in part and denied in part. The court directed that fee and cost awards be entered consistent with the order and directed the Clerk to close all pending motions.
Read the full 18-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.