Beverly Hills Teddy Bear Company v. Best Brands Consumer Products, Inc.

Background

The case includes one remaining claim under the Copyright Act concerning alleged infringement of copyrights in Squeezamals toys. Best Brands Consumer Products, Inc. and Best Brands Sales Company, LLC sought fees and expenses under a December 11, 2020 order that had imposed discovery sanctions on Beverly Hills Teddy Bear Company. That earlier order found that Beverly Hills Teddy Bear had withheld information and documents concerning its relationship with GennComm and a non-exclusive license agreement covering products at issue in the case.

The earlier order required Beverly Hills Teddy Bear to pay reasonable fees and costs attributable to additional work resulting from the late discovery of the GennComm relationship. The covered work included the sanctions motion, briefing on standing and whether GennComm had to be joined as a party, and follow-up discovery needed to correct the incomplete discovery responses. The Best Brands companies later requested $192,210.16. Beverly Hills Teddy Bear argued that the award should not exceed $77,367.58.

Legal standard

The court evaluated the request using the reasonable-fee standard. A party seeking fees must provide time records showing the date, hours, and nature of each attorney’s work. The court considers reasonable market rates, the lawyers’ experience, the difficulty of the work, and whether the hours were excessive, duplicative, or unnecessary. The court also examined the billing entries individually rather than applying a blanket percentage reduction.

Hourly rates and billing entries

The court found that the $617.50 hourly rates charged by partners Morris Cohen and Lee Goldberg were reasonable. It reduced associate Limor Wigder’s rate from $427.50 to $300 because she had limited experience in copyright cases. The court reduced entries describing paralegal work to $175 per hour and excluded entries for purely clerical work. These adjustments excluded 1.1 hours and reduced the rate for another 5.1 hours, trimming $1,758 from the award.

The court also found that the sanctions order did not make Beverly Hills Teddy Bear responsible for every expense related to GennComm. It excluded or reduced fees for work that was not additional work caused by the late disclosure, including work related to a subpoena from GennComm, communications with GennComm’s counsel, third-party subpoenas, settlement-related matters, a vague call about the case’s next steps, and mediation. The court also reduced one conference entry because it could not determine how much of the time concerned the GennComm issue rather than summary judgment. In total, 41.3 hours fell outside the order’s scope, reducing the award by $22,105.50.

The court rejected most objections to block billing, which means combining related tasks in one time entry. It found two entries involving standing and sanctions work insufficiently separated and reduced each by 50 percent, reducing the award by another $3,550.63. The court found no excessive use of partners and found the time spent preparing the Third Amended Answer reasonable.

Disposition

The court granted in part and denied in part the motion for attorney’s fees and expenses. It awarded Best Brands Consumer Products, Inc. and Best Brands Sales Company, LLC $160,257.04. The award covered the consequences of Beverly Hills Teddy Bear’s untimely disclosure and the specifically identified standing and joinder briefing, not all litigation concerning Beverly Hills Teddy Bear, GennComm, and their relationship. The Clerk was directed to terminate the fee motion.