Fleetwood Services, LLC v. Ram Capital Funding, LLC

Background

Fleetwood Services, LLC moved under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(d)(2) and the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) for attorney’s fees and costs. The motion followed the court’s earlier summary-judgment ruling for Fleetwood on its RICO claim against Robert Giardina.

The earlier ruling concluded that the merchant-cash agreement was a loan rather than a purchase of future receivables. It also concluded that Richmond Capital Group LLC, doing business as RCG Advances LLC and operating under the name Ram Capital Funding, was a RICO enterprise and that Giardina participated in its affairs through the collection of unlawful debt. The court later entered judgment for Fleetwood and against Giardina for $175,351, representing treble damages based on $75,117 in damages. The parties agreed that Counts One through Four would be dismissed with prejudice.

Fleetwood sought $636,334 in attorney’s fees and $10,647.21 in costs. Giardina argued that the fee request was excessive, that Fleetwood should not recover for work related to claims that were dismissed or for the earlier Texas state-court case, and that the fee award should be reduced based on the amount recovered.

Attorney’s Fees

The court used the lodestar method, which calculates a presumptively reasonable fee by multiplying reasonable hours by a reasonable hourly rate. It approved an hourly rate of $625 for Shane Heskins and $500 for Stuart Wells, rather than the requested rates of $750 and $575. The court considered the lawyers’ experience, the complexity of the legal issues, the results obtained, the contingency arrangement, prevailing rates, and other relevant factors.

Fleetwood sought compensation for 801.7 hours billed by its New York attorneys and 151.4 hours billed by Texas attorneys for the earlier state-court action. The court found that the New York work generally concerned the same facts and legal issues as the successful RICO claim, so it did not exclude the work merely because Fleetwood voluntarily dismissed other claims. However, the court found some of Wells’s time excessive, including time spent preparing summary-judgment briefing and work before the federal complaint was filed. It also found that some tasks could have been performed by a paralegal or lower-cost associate. The court reduced Wells’s 738.1 hours by 15%, to 627.3 hours, while allowing Heskins’s 63.6 hours.

The court denied compensation for the 151.4 hours billed by Wendy D. Dawer and Matthew K. Davis in the separate Texas state-court action. Fleetwood did not show that this work was useful and necessary to the federal RICO case. The court also denied Fleetwood’s request for a 1.25 multiplier because the factors supporting the request had already been considered in setting the hourly rates and hours, and Fleetwood identified no additional extraordinary circumstances.

Costs and Disposition

The court approved $8,914.35 in costs incurred by White and Williams LLP, including court reporting, service of process, and an expert report. It denied the $1,732.86 in costs attributed to Jones, Davis & Jackson, PC for the Texas state-court action.

Judge Liman granted in part and denied in part Fleetwood’s motion for attorney’s fees and costs. The court awarded $353,400 in attorney’s fees, calculated as $625 multiplied by 63.6 hours plus $500 multiplied by 627.3 hours. It also awarded $8,914.35 in costs, for a total award of $362,314.35, and directed the Clerk of Court to close the motion.