Joe Hand Promotions Incorporated v. Maleh et al

Filing 20

ORDER granting 19 Motion for Attorney Fees as modified. Plaintiff is awarded $845 in costs and $800 in attorneys' fees. The Clerk shall enter judgment accordingly and terminate this action. Signed by Judge Douglas L Rayes on 11/29/16.(EJA)

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

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Joe Hand Promotions Incorporated,

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Plaintiff,

No. CV-15-02659-PHX-DLR
ORDER

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v.

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Mohannad Maleh and Hi-Life Smoke 'N
Lounge LLC,

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Defendants.

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Before the Court is Plaintiff Joe Hand Promotion Inc.’s Motion for Attorney Fees

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and Costs in the amount of $3,630. (Doc. 19.) Default judgment has been entered

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against Defendants, and they did not respond to the instant motion. The Court grants the

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motion and awards a modified amount of costs and fees.

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The Communications Act of 1934 mandates an award of attorneys’ fees to the

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prevailing party in an action involving unlawful publication or use of intercepted wire or

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radio communications.

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judgment against Defendants and awarded $3,500 in damages in favor of Plaintiff for

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Defendants’ illegal publication of a televised fight.

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publication, Plaintiff had exclusive distribution rights to the fight, and is thus entitled to

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an award of attorneys’ fees and costs as the prevailing “aggrieved party.” 47 U.S.C. §

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605(e)(3)(B)(iii).

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47 U.S.C. § 605(e)(3)(B)(iii).

The Court entered default

(Doc. 18.)

At the time of

In accordance with LRCiv. 54.2, Plaintiff submitted an itemized statement of the

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fees incurred in connection with prosecuting this matter. (Doc. 19 at 16-19.) The

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statement sufficiently sets forth a description of the work performed, who performed the

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work, the applicable rate, and how much time was spent on each task. Counsel spent 1.6

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hours on the case at a billable rate of $500 per hour. The Court finds the time spent is

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reasonable given the nature of the case, and the rate is reasonable given counsel’s twenty-

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two years of experience.

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reasonable for an attorney with 20+ years of experience).)

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(See id. at 21 (Laffey Matrix indicating that $500/hr is

The Court, however, declines to award the remaining fees.

The statement

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indicates that an unidentified research attorney spent 2 hours on the case at a billable rate

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of $300 per hour. But there is no evidence of the research attorney’s level of experience,

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and thus the Court is unable to determine whether the rate is reasonable. In addition, the

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Court declines to grant fees incurred by counsel’s unidentified administrative assistant,

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who spent 7.6 hours on the case and billed $100 per hour. “Such clerical tasks are not

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compensable because they are subsumed in firm overhead costs.” J & J Sports Prod.,

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Inc. v. Corona, No. 1:12-cv-01844-LJO-JLY, 2014 WL 1513426, at *2 (E.D. Cal. April

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16, 2014) (citing Nadarajah v. Holder, 569 F.3d 906, 921 (9th Cir. 2009)). Moreover, in

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several instances, counsel and his administrative assistant performed duplicative tasks, as

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both completed the “initial file review and file preparation,” the “review of the Court’s

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order granting motion for admission,” the “public records research and review of

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Mohammad Maleh,” the “review of the clerk’s entry of default,” and several others.

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(Doc. 19 at 16-18.) The amount of fees is reduced by $1,360.

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Plaintiff also requests an award of $1,470 in costs, which includes the $400 filing

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fee, a $35 pro hac vice charge, $387 for service of process, $22.88 for courier charges,

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and $625 in “investigative fees.” (Doc. 19 at 18-19.) The Court finds the costs are

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reasonable except for the investigative fees.

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administrative assistant, is part of firm overhead costs. The amount of costs awarded is

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reduced by $625.

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//

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This cost, like the time spent by the

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IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff’s motion, (Doc. 19), is GRANTED as modified.

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Plaintiff is awarded $845 in costs and $800 in attorneys’ fees. The Clerk shall enter

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judgment accordingly and terminate this action.

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Dated this 29th day of November, 2016.

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Douglas L. Rayes
United States District Judge

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