Federal National Mortgage Association v. Home et al

Filing 52

ORDER granting 51 Plaintiff's Motion for Attorney Fees. Plaintiff is awarded attorneys' fees in the amount of $70,192.50 and costs in the amount of $1,219.00. Signed by Judge David G Campbell on 1/3/12.(LSP)

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1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8 9 Federal National Mortgage Association, Plaintiff, 10 11 ORDER vs. 12 No. CV11-01227-PHX-DGC Marshall E. Home; Independent Rights Party, 13 Defendants. 14 15 Plaintiff Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”) brought its 16 complaint (Doc. 1) after Defendants Marshall E. Home and Independent Rights Party 17 used the name “Federal National Mortgage Association” to execute special warranty 18 deeds transferring a number of Fannie Mae-owned properties to Defendants. 19 September 22, 2011, the Court entered default judgment against Defendants on all seven 20 counts, found Plaintiff entitled to statutory damages in the amount of $141,200, entered a 21 permanent injunction against Defendants, invalidated the special warranty deeds filed by 22 Defendants, and cancelled Home’s registration of the trade name “Federal National 23 Mortgage Association” with the Arizona Secretary of State. Doc. 50. The Court granted 24 Plaintiff’s request to seek attorneys’ fees in accordance with Local Rule of Civil 25 Procedure 54.2. Id. at 5. 26 27 28 On Plaintiff has filed a motion for attorneys’ fees and costs. Doc. 51. No response has been filed, and the time for filing one has passed. See LRCiv 54.2(b)(3). 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Plaintiff seeks $70,192.50 in attorneys’ fees and $1,219.00 in costs against Defendants pursuant to A.R.S. § 33-420(A). That section provides: A person purporting to claim an interest in, or a lien or encumbrance against, real property, who causes a document asserting such claim to be recorded in the office of the county recorder, knowing or having reason to know that the document is forged, groundless, contains a material misstatement or false claim or is otherwise invalid is liable to the owner or beneficial title holder of the real property . . . reasonable attorney fees and costs of the action. A.R.S. § 33-420(A). 8 Given the default judgment against Defendants on all counts in the complaint, 9 including count three which alleged Defendants’ wrongful efforts to claim an interest in 10 and purport to hold title to the property evidenced by the special warranty deeds in 11 violation of A.R.S. § 33-420(A), Plaintiff clearly is entitled to a fee award under that 12 section. See Allied Mortg. Group, Inc. v. Peter Strojnik, P.C., No. CV-08-0376, 2009 13 WL 2581400 at *5 (Ariz. App. Aug. 20, 2009). Having reviewed Plaintiff’s supporting 14 memorandum (Doc. 51, at 3-11) and counsel’s declaration and statement of fees and 15 costs (Docs. 51-1, 51-2, 51-3), the Court finds the requested fees and costs to be 16 reasonable and appropriate. 17 IT IS ORDERED: 18 1. Plaintiff’s motion for attorneys’ fees and costs (Doc. 51) is granted. 19 2. Plaintiff is awarded attorneys’ fees in the amount of $70,192.50 and costs 20 21 in the amount of $1,219.00. Dated this 3rd day of January, 2012. 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -2-

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