Trividia Health, Inc. v. Nipro Corporation

Background

An arbitration proceeding lasting three years resulted in a September 18, 2020 final award by an International Chamber of Commerce tribunal. The tribunal determined that Nipro Corporation had breached an agreement with Trividia Health, Inc. and awarded Trividia $21,668,302.30 in damages and legal costs, including interest that had accrued. Trividia moved to confirm the non-domestic arbitration award, and the court granted that motion on December 10, 2021.

Trividia then moved under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(d)(2) for attorney’s fees, costs, and interest connected to confirming the arbitration award. It sought roughly $225,000 in fees and costs, post-award, pre-judgment interest at New York’s 9-percent annual rate, and post-judgment interest at the federal statutory rate. Nipro opposed the motion except as to post-judgment interest.

Attorney’s Fees and Costs

The parties’ International Distribution Agreement stated that when a party brought a legal action, arbitration, proceeding, hearing, or motion to enforce the agreement, the prevailing party could receive reasonable attorney’s fees, paralegal fees, costs, and expenses. Nipro argued that this provision covered only the arbitration, not the later court proceeding to confirm the award.

The court rejected that argument. It held that enforcing the agreement included confirming an arbitration award resulting from a party’s failure to comply with the agreement. The court therefore concluded that Trividia was entitled to attorney’s fees and expenses for the confirmation proceeding.

The court found Trividia’s lawyers’ hourly rates reasonable, but found that the overall number of hours billed was excessive. It reduced the hours attributed to each person on the invoices by 25 percent, resulting in $163,164.75 in fees. The court also excluded Westlaw charges as law-firm overhead and awarded $421.31 in other costs. The total award for fees and costs was $163,586.06.

Post-Award, Pre-Judgment Interest

The court determined that an award of interest for the period after the arbitration award but before judgment was appropriate. It selected New York’s 9-percent annual rate, citing the preference for that rate in the federal appeals circuit covering the court, Nipro’s refusal to accept the final award, and what the court described as Nipro’s continued delay.

Post-Judgment Interest

The court awarded post-judgment interest from the date of judgment until Nipro satisfies the judgment. It used the federal rate required by 28 U.S.C. § 1961(a), which is based on the weekly average one-year constant-maturity Treasury yield for the calendar week before the judgment date.

Disposition

The court granted in part Trividia’s motion. It awarded Trividia $163,586.06 in attorney’s fees and costs, post-award, pre-judgment interest at 9 percent per year, and post-judgment interest at the federal rate specified in 28 U.S.C. § 1961(a). The Clerk of Court was directed to close the motion.