Burke v. Mattis
Burke v. Mattis
Opinion of the Court
This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff's Motion for Attorney's Fees (Dkt. 139) and Bill of Costs (Dkt. 138). The motion for attorney's fees is fully briefed and the Court heard oral argument on April 6, 2018. For the reasons below and for good cause shown, the motion for attorney's fees is GRANTED. The Court awards Plaintiff attorney's fees of $336,034.32, nontaxable costs of $29,871.12, and taxable costs of $17,143.58.
I. Background
Following a seven day trial, a jury returned a verdict in favor of Plaintiff Patricia *911Burke, finding that Ms. Burke's employer, the Defense Security Service (DSS), subjected her to a retaliatory hostile work environment in violation of Title VII and the Rehabilitation Act after she filed a formal complaint of gender discrimination. She was awarded $1 in damages. Evidence presented at trial included testimony that William Stephens, a manager at DSS supervising Ms. Burke, directly retaliated against Ms. Burke; that Mr. Stephens discussed with another DSS manager a tactic of isolating and harming the self-esteem of employees who file complaints; that Mr. Stephens previously retaliated against DSS employees using those tactics; that DSS managers interfered with the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Office investigation into Ms. Burke's complaints; and that the EEO Office was aligned under the DSS Director's Chief of Staff instead of immediately under the Director. Accordingly, Plaintiff sought and the Court granted injunctive relief. The granted relief was designed to broadly address apparent deficiencies in DSS's EEO program as well as to specifically ensure that Ms. Burke could no longer be subject to retaliation under the supervision of the same individuals who retaliated against her in the first place.
Plaintiff has now moved for an award of attorney's fees of $406,085.28, nontaxable costs of $33,182.08, and taxable costs of $18,508.97.
II. Legal Standard
Under the American Rule, a prevailing litigant is generally not entitled to recover attorney's fees from the non-prevailing litigant unless a statute or contract provides otherwise. Baker Botts L.L.P. v. ASARCO LLC , --- U.S. ----,
(1) The time and labor expended; (2) the novelty and difficulty of the questions raised; (3) the skill required to properly perform the legal services rendered; (4) the attorney's opportunity costs in pressing the instant litigation; (5) the customary fee for like work; (6) the attorney's expectations at the outset of the litigation; (7) the time limitations imposed by the client or circumstances; (8) the amount in controversy and the results obtained; (9) the experience, reputation, and ability of the attorney; (10) the undesirability of the case within the legal community in which the suit arose; (11) the nature and length of the professional relationship between attorney and client; and (12) attorneys' fees awards in similar cases.
III. Discussion
This memorandum sets forth Plaintiff's entitlement to the requested fees, the reasonableness of those fees, and Plaintiff's entitlement to costs.
A. Entitlement to Fees
This case was brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. As noted, the Court has discretion to award attorney's fees in successful Title VII cases. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(k). As a threshold matter, the parties debate whether attorney's fees are appropriate where the jury awarded only nominal damages. Defendant notes, "[i]f the prevailing party has recovered only nominal damages, the Supreme Court has explained that 'the only reasonable fee is usually no fee at all.' " Mercer v. Duke Univ. ,
Properly assessing the extent of the relief obtained requires comparing the amount of the damages sought to the amount awarded. Mercer ,
As to the significance of the legal issues, the Court agrees with Defendant that this case was not novel, did not establish important precedent, or otherwise advance the law. See Pitrolo v. Cnty. of Buncombe, N.C. ,
Defendant falls back on an argument that "courts may consider a plaintiff's refusal of a settlement offer as one of several proportionality factors guiding their exercise of discretion." Sheppard v. Riverview Nursing Ctr., Inc. ,
For these reasons, Plaintiff is entitled to an award of attorney's fees.
B. Lodestar Calculation
The Court determines the lodestar figure by calculating the reasonable hourly rates and the reasonable number of hours expended. Robinson ,
Plaintiff contends that all of the requested rates are within the Vienna Metro Matrix which has been adopted by courts in this district as a reasonable indication of appropriate rates for Northern Virginia. See Vienna Metro LLC v. Pulte Home Corp. , No. 1:10-cv-00502 (E.D. Va. Aug. 24, 2011); see also Tech Sys., Inc. v. Pyles ,
Defendant also contends that the Laffey Matrix is inapplicable to litigation in this District and that the requested rate for Plaintiff's attorney Mr. Goldsmith of $563 is unreasonable. The Court agrees that the Vienna Metro Matrix, not the Laffey Matrix, is the appropriate matrix for determining reasonable rates. See Am. Bird Conservancy v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Serv. ,
Defendant's next line of attack on Ms. Burke's requested rates is on the declarations submitted by area practitioners, taking a piecemeal approach to arguing each declaration is insufficient. However, the declarations, in their totality, establish exactly what they need to establish for purposes of the Court's analysis: that the rates of Ms. Burke's attorneys are appropriate to this case. See Rum Creek Coal Sales v. Caperton ,
For these reasons, the Court finds that the following rates for Ms. Burke's attorneys are reasonable and commensurate with their respective legal experience: $375-385 per hour for Jacob Small, $370 per hour for Benjamin Inman,
2. Reasonableness of Time Entries
"The next step in the lodestar analysis is to examine plaintiff's fee petition to determine the appropriate number of attorney hours to multiply by the hourly rates." Am. Bird Conservancy ,
3. Applying Reductions to the Lodestar Figure
Plaintiff has volunteered several reductions to the lodestar figure. First, because the damages award was only nominal, Plaintiff voluntarily cut approximately 70% from line items associated with securing compensatory damages, resulting in a monetary reduction of $9,966.76. Second, she applied a 10% reduction to the remaining fees, resulting in a monetary reduction of $42,413.19.
Plaintiff has also requested nontaxable costs be awarded, consisting of $32,550 in expert fees associated with Dr. Liza Gold, $459.08 in nontaxable costs pertaining to *915Mr. Goldsmith, and $173 in nontaxable costs pertaining to Mr. Inman and Mr. Small.
By notice, Plaintiff concedes that $3,150 of the costs associated with Dr. Gold were improperly included. Dkt. 154. Defendant contends that the remaining untaxable costs pertaining to Dr. Gold should be further reduced by 70% because, Defendant contends, Dr. Gold's testimony pertained to compensatory damages. As noted from the bench, the Court finds further reduction of these costs unwarranted. The Court, however, does find certain costs associated with Mr. Goldsmith to be unreasonable. Specifically $31.70 for "express lane tolls for attending court" on a date not associated with any hearing in this case, $12.00 for "Parking for meeting with Small at Tysons," and $117.26 associated with lunch during trial will not be awarded.
Accordingly, Plaintiff is awarded attorney's fees of $336,034.32 and nontaxable costs of $29,871.12.
C. Taxable Costs
Pursuant to FED. R. CIV. P. 54(d)(1), Plaintiff is entitled to recover for costs incurred in the litigation. Recoverable costs include court fees, court-reporter fees and transcripts "necessarily obtained for use in the case, fees for printing and witnesses, fees for exemplification and copying "necessarily obtained for use" in the case, docket fees, and fees for court-appointed experts.
Plaintiff has submitted a bill of costs totaling $18,508.97. Dkt. 138. Upon review of Defendant's objections, Plaintiff withdrew requests totaling $1,107.08. Of the remaining $17,401.89, Defendant objects to unclear costs associated with depositions of five witnesses, delivery fees associated with deposition transcripts, trial exhibit binders, deposition transcripts for use at trial, and miscellaneous photocopying for trial documents. The Court has reviewed the objections as well as Plaintiff's response to the objections clarifying the requests.
The Court finds the $2,887.75 associated with deposition transcripts to be adequately explained and taxable as transcript services. The delivery fees of $183 for the transcripts are taxable under Eastern District of Virginia Guidelines. With regard to the costs associated with trial exhibit binders, the Court finds the organization costs taxable-they are integral costs to producing usable exhibit binders-but the production of a fifth exhibit binder not taxable. Local Rules require four exhibit binders-two for the Court, one for defense counsel, and one for the witness box. Plaintiff has submitted costs for five copies, which includes one for Plaintiff's counsel's own use. This is not taxable. Ford v. Zalco Realty, Inc. ,
The costs associated with bringing deposition transcripts to trial are reasonable and taxable, in light of Plaintiff's clarification that she has only requested costs for two copies of each transcript. Finally, the Court finds that Plaintiff has insufficiently explained the $44.20 associated with Mr. Goldsmith printing approximately 442 pages of materials for use at trial. Defendant objected to the cost as vague and Plaintiff did not offer any clarification in her response to the objection.
For these reasons, Plaintiff is entitled to taxable costs of $17,143.58.
*916IV. Conclusion
For the reasons discussed above and for good cause shown, Plaintiff's motion is GRANTED . Plaintiff is entitled to attorney's fees of $336,034.32, nontaxable costs of $29,871.12, and taxable costs of $17,143.58.
It is so ORDERED .
Three Assistant United States Attorneys, including the Chief of the Civil Division in this District, and one attorney from DSS's General Counsel's Office.
The Court fully credits Mr. Inman's approximately five years as an Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney as relevant to trying federal civil cases.
Adjusted for Mr. Goldsmith's awarded lodestar rate of $450 per hour.
Plaintiff did not dispute Defendant's objections to these costs in her reply.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Patricia BURKE v. James MATTIS, Secretary, United States Department of Defense
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published