Branch Banking and Trust Company v. EBR Investments LLC et al

Filing 43

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Defendants are ORDERED within seven days to pay plaintiff's reasonable expenses, in the amount of $825.00 to Bryan G. Hale and $3,030.03 to Mychal J. Katz. Signed by Judge William M Acker, Jr on 3/16/15. (SAC )

FILED
2015 Mar-16 PM 02:46
U.S. DISTRICT COURT
N.D. OF ALABAMA

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA
SOUTHERN DIVISION
BRANCH BANKING AND TRUST,
CO.,
Plaintiff,
v.
EBR INVESTMENTS LLC, et al.,
Defendants.

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CIVIL ACTION NO.
2:14-CV-1578-WMA

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
In accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37 and this
court’s February 18, 2015 order (Doc. 39), the court now fixes the
amount of plaintiff’s reasonable expenses and attorney’s fees
incurred

in

prosecuting

its

motion

to

compel

(Doc.

36).

Plaintiff’s counsel timely filed an affidavit in support of their
request for an award of fees and costs, requesting that $4,205.03
be paid to lead counsel Mychal J. Katz and $825.00 be paid to local
counsel Bryan G. Hale. (Doc. 40).

Defendants filed a reply

objecting to various time entries, specific airfare selections, and
travel time calculations relating to the lead counsel’s expenses
and

costs.

(Doc.

41).

Upon

close

review,

the

court

finds

plaintiff’s lead counsel properly recorded his billable time and
prudently

selected

reasonably

priced

airfare

given

the

circumstances. However, the court adjusts the billable hours for
plaintiff’s counsel’s travel time.

While plaintiff’s counsel does

state in his reply that he spent approximately 15 minutes traveling

to the airport, 20-25 minutes going through airport security, and
arrived at his gate approximately 20 minutes prior to boarding, he
provides no explanation of the substantive work conducted beyond
mere travel or assurances that he was not performing work for other
clients during that time. (Doc. 42).

Therefore, the court adjusts

his billable travel time from his requested 9.2 hours to 4.2 hours,
which reasonably includes time for the boarding, take-off, and
changing planes process where implicitly client work could not be
conducted.

Avoiding the risk of windfall, this adjustment ensures

that “[d]efendants’ choice not to abide by the Federal Rules of
Civil Procedure should not result in BB&T’s lead counsel losing an
hour of billable time.” (Doc. 42 at 6).
Accordingly, defendants are ORDERED within seven (7) days to
pay plaintiff’s reasonable expenses, in the amount of $825.00 to
Bryan G. Hale and $3,030.03 to Mychal J. Katz.

DONE this 16th day of March, 2015.

_____________________________
WILLIAM M. ACKER, JR.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE