Citigroup Inc. v. Seade
- John Cronan
- 1:21-cv-10413
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 9
In Citigroup v. Seade, Judge Cronan awarded Citigroup $36,461.52 after reviewing fees tied to sanctions and defending claims in Mexico.
Citigroup Inc. received a $36,461.52 fee-and-cost award. The order concerned reimbursement sought from Luis Sebastian Sayeg Seade after contempt findings based on his failure to comply with the Court’s orders.
What happened
Citigroup Inc. v. Seade concerned Citigroup’s request for attorneys’ fees and costs after Luis Sebastian Sayeg Seade failed to follow orders requiring him to participate in arbitration and withdraw certain claims in a Mexican case. Citigroup requested fees for seeking additional contempt sanctions and defending claims that the Court had ordered withdrawn.
Citigroup sought $42,753.40 in attorneys’ fees and $308.52 in costs. The Court found reasonable the fees and costs connected with Citigroup’s additional sanctions motion, but it did not authorize fees for work in the Mexican case before February 28, 2022, or after May 23, 2022.
Judge John P. Cronan granted Citigroup’s motion in part and awarded it $36,461.52: $21,537.00 in fees and $308.52 in costs for the sanctions-related work, plus $14,616.00 in fees for defending the enjoined Mexican claims during the authorized period. The Court denied without prejudice the remaining request for Mexican-case fees.
The detailed version
- Citigroup Inc. v. Seade · No. 1:21-cv-10413
- John Cronan
- Jan. 6, 2023
Background
The Court had previously ordered Sayeg to participate in contractually required arbitration and to withdraw from a Mexican lawsuit claims that fell within the parties’ arbitration agreements. The Court also issued an injunction directing Sayeg to dismiss without prejudice claims concerning the applicability of benefits under certain plans in that Mexican lawsuit.
After Sayeg failed to comply, the Court held him in civil contempt and imposed sanctions. The Court later held him in contempt again for continuing to violate the injunction. In the second contempt order, the Court required Sayeg to reimburse Citigroup for reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in bringing the additional sanctions motion and defending claims that had to be withdrawn in the Mexican lawsuit.
Citigroup then sought $42,753.40 in attorneys’ fees and $308.52 in costs. The requested fees included $21,537.00 for litigating the additional contempt motion and its fee application, and $21,216.40 for defending the enjoined claims in the Mexican lawsuit. The Mexican-case fees included work performed from February 9, 2022, through September 30, 2022.
Fee Application for the Additional Contempt Motion
The Court calculated a presumptively reasonable fee by reviewing the attorneys’ hourly rates and the hours reasonably spent. It approved hourly rates of $840 for attorney Robert L. Sills, $480 for attorney Ryan R. Adelsperger, and $150 for a paralegal. The Court had approved the attorney rates in an earlier fee order and again found them reasonable.
The Court also found that Pillsbury had reasonably spent 39.4 hours investigating and prosecuting the additional contempt motion, including preparing the fee application. It approved $21,537.00 in attorneys’ fees for that work and $308.52 in Federal Express costs for court-ordered service.
Fees for the Mexican Action
For compensatory sanctions, the Court explained that an award should reimburse the injured party for its actual damages. Citigroup sought fees for work performed by lawyers at De la Vega and Martinez Rojas, S.C., the Mexico City firm representing Banamex, a Citigroup subsidiary, in the Mexican lawsuit. The Court found the firm’s hourly rates and the 36 hours billed during the authorized period reasonable.
The Court limited the recoverable period to February 28, 2022, the date of the first contempt order, through May 23, 2022, the date of the second contempt order. Citigroup had also requested fees incurred before the first contempt order and after the second contempt order, but those periods had not been authorized by the Court. The Court denied without prejudice Citigroup’s request for those fees.
The Court awarded $14,616.00 in attorneys’ fees, including value-added tax, for defending the enjoined claims during the authorized period.
Disposition
Judge John P. Cronan granted Citigroup’s motion in part and awarded Citigroup $36,461.52. The award consisted of $21,537.00 in attorneys’ fees and $308.52 in costs for the additional sanctions motion, plus $14,616.00 in attorneys’ fees for defending the enjoined claims in the Mexican lawsuit. Citigroup was ordered to file a status letter by January 27, 2023, describing the status of the Mexican lawsuit, Sayeg’s compliance with the Court’s orders, and any further steps Citigroup intended to take.
Read the full 9-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.