Napier v. Swiftfunds Financial Services LLC

1 WO 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA No. CV-19-04600-PHX-DGC Antonio Napier, 11 Plaintiff, ORDER v. Swiftfunds Financial Services LLC, 14 Defendant.

17 Plaintiff Antonio Napier asserts multiple violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq., against Defendant Swiftfunds Financial Services LLC. Doc. 1. The Court entered default judgment against Defendant on each violation and awarded Plaintiff $1,000 in statutory damages. Docs. 16, 17.

21 Plaintiff has filed a motion for attorneys’ fees and costs. Doc. 18. No response has been filed. For reasons stated below, the Court will grant the motion and award Plaintiff a total of $4,465 in fees and costs.

24 Under the FDCPA, a district court may award a successful plaintiff “the costs of the action, together with a reasonable attorney’s fee as determined by the court.” 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(a)(3). Plaintiff’s counsel has submitted a declaration in support of the motion which sets forth her qualifications and experience with FDCPA cases, her hourly rate ($400/hour), and the specific amount and type of work performed on behalf of 1| Plaintiff. Doc. 18-1; see also Lemberg Law, https://www.lemberglaw.com/about/team/ trinette-kent/ (last visited May 13, 2020). Attached to the declaration is an itemized statement of fees and costs. Doc. 18-2. Counsel and her team of paralegals spent 15.2 4]| hours on this matter, which equates to a total of fee amount of $3,935. Id. Costs include | the $400 filing fee and $130 for service of process. Id. at 2.

6 Having reviewed the motion and supporting documents, the Court finds the requested attorney’s fees of $3,935 and costs of $530 to be reasonable. The Court | therefore will grant Plaintiff’s motion. See LRCiv 54.1, 54.2 (setting forth allowable costs and factors to be considered in determining whether a fee award is reasonable); 10| Mayes vy. Credit Sols. Corp., No. CV-10-8104-PCT-DGC, 2011 WL 855634, at *2 (D.

11} Ariz. Mar. 9, 2011) (awarding $3,012 in fees and $480 for costs under the FDCPA); Cotton v. Zitterman Bosh & Assocs., No. CV-11-2024-PHX-DGC, 2012 WL 3289921, | at *2 (D. Ariz. Aug. 13, 2012) (finding $4,607 fee and cost award to be reasonable under 14| the FDCPA).

15 IT IS ORDERED: 16 1. Plaintiff’s motion for attorneys’ fees and costs (Doc. 18) is granted.

17 2. Plaintiff is awarded $4,465.00 in attorney’s fees and costs against 18 Defendant Swiftfunds Financial Services LLC.

19 Dated this 13th day of May, 2020.

20 □ 21 perk 6, Cate plhel 22 David G. Campbell 23 Senior United States District Judge _2-