Fields v. RL Hurst Inc et al

Filing 29

OPNION AND ORDER granting in part and denying in part 23 Motion for Attorney Fees. Attorneys' fees are awarded in the amount of $16,935. In addition, costs and expenses are awarded in the amount of $600. The total amount is $17,535. A judgment will be entered separately. Signed by Judge J. Leon Holmes on 11/6/2015. (ks)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS
WESTERN DIVISION
CHRISTOPHER FIELDS
and KENNETH HILL
v.

PLAINTIFFS

No. 4:14CV00137 JLH

R.L. HURST INCORPORATED; HURST
CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION, INC.;
R.L. HURST CONSTRUCTION;
RODNEY L. HURST, individually and as
owner, officer, or director of R.L. Hurst
Incorporated, Hurst Concrete Construction,
Inc., and R.L. Hurst Construction

DEFENDANTS

OPINION AND ORDER
Christopher Fields and Kenneth Hill brought this action under the Fair Labor Standards Act,
29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., and the Arkansas Minimum Wage Act, Ark. Code Ann. § 11-4-201 et seq.,
seeking overtime compensation, liquidated damages, and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs. They
also asserted a claim under the Arkansas Civil Justice Reform Act, Ark. Code Ann. § 16-55-206,
and sought punitive damages for that claim. Ultimately, the parties reached a settlement pursuant
to which the defendants paid $7,500 to Christopher Fields and $5,000 to Kenneth Hill in full
payment for unpaid wages and liquidated damages. The settlement provided that the plaintiffs could
seek reasonable attorneys’ fees and court costs as provided in 29 U.S.C. § 216(b), in addition to the
$12,500 paid for unpaid wages and liquidated damages. See Document #20.
The plaintiffs have now filed their motion for costs and attorneys’ fees. They seek
$18,269.55 in attorneys’ fees plus $600 in costs. The defendants have not objected to the costs, but
they do object to the fee request, arguing that the request is excessive in light of the small amount
of the recovery and the time necessary to obtain it.

The starting point for determining the amount of reasonable fees is the lodestar, which
multiplies the number of hours reasonably expended by a reasonable hourly rate. See Hensley v.
Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 433, 103 S. Ct. 1933, 1939, 76 L. Ed. 2d 40 (1983). In determining the
lodestar, a court may consider such factors as
(1) the time and labor required; (2) the novelty and difficulty of the questions; (3) the
skill requisite to perform the legal service properly; (4) the preclusion of employment
by the attorney due to acceptance of the case; (5) the customary fee; (6) whether the
fee is fixed or contingent; (7) time limitations imposed by the client or the
circumstances; (8) the amount involved and the results obtained; (9) the experience,
reputation, and ability of the attorneys; (10) the “undesirability” of the case; (11) the
nature and length of the professional relationship with the client; and (12) awards in
similar cases.
Id. at 430 n.3, 103 S. Ct. at 1937 n.3. When the party seeking an award of fees submits inadequate
documentation of its hours and rates, “the district court may reduce the award accordingly.” Id. at
433, 103 S. Ct. at 1939. “Counsel for the prevailing party should make a good faith effort to exclude
from a fee request hours that are excessive, redundant, or otherwise unnecessary, just as a lawyer
in private practice ethically is obligated to exclude such hours from his fee submission.” Id. at 434,
103 S. Ct. at 1939-40. After determining the lodestar, other considerations, such as “the important
factor of the ‘results obtained,’” may lead a court to adjust the fee upward or downward. Id. at 434,
103 S. Ct. at 1940. No precise rule or formula exists for making these determinations. Id. at 436,
103 S. Ct. at 1941. “[T]he fee applicant bears the burden of establishing entitlement to an award and
documenting the appropriate hours expended and hourly rates.” Id. at 437, 103 S. Ct. at 1941.
The plaintiffs have provided a billing statement with itemized time entries for Josh Sanford,
Josh West, an unidentified person whose initials are VK, and an unidentified person designated in
the billing entries as S. They request an hourly rate of $290 for Sanford and $190 for West. They

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also seek $250 per hour for VK and $75 per hour for S. They have provided a chart of the hourly
rates and the hours billed for each timekeeper as follows:
Attorney

Hourly Rate

Hours Billed

Fees Charged

JS

$290.00

20.40

$5,916.00

JW

$190.00

72.50

$13,592.501

VK

$250.00

5.90

$1,475.00

S

$75.00

.40

$30.00

99.20

$21,013.50

TOTAL

They also have itemized entries that they concede are redundant or duplicative. Those
redundant or duplicative entries include .3 hours for Josh Sanford and 3.3 hours for Josh West.
Thus, they reduced the request by $714 to $20,299.50. In addition, they propose an additional
ten percent “haircut” to bring the requested amount to $18,269.55.
The first issue is whether the hourly rates are reasonable. In similar cases, the Court has
found reasonable hourly rates to be $275 for partners, between $175 and $225 for associates, and
between $75 and $100 for paralegals. See Ginnaven v. Alabama Arkansas Wildlife, LLC, No.
5:15CV00140-JLH, slip op. at 7 (E.D. Ark. Nov. 5, 2015) (Document #28); Beauford v. ActionLink,
LLC, No. 4:12CV00139-JLH, slip op. at 7 (E.D. Ark. Jan. 15, 2014) (Document #149); Hendricks
v. Inergy, L.P., No. 4:12CV00069-JLH, slip op. at 4-5 (E.D. Ark. Jan. 6, 2014) (Document #133);
Madden v. Lumber One Home Ctr., Inc., No. 4:10CV01162-JLH, slip op. at 8 (E.D. Ark. May 22,
2013) (Document #102). The partners in those cases had experience and expertise equal to or

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A few entries for West are billed at $95 per hour and some at $60 per hour. According to
Sanford’s affidavit, those entries are for time expended that would be more appropriate for a
paralegal than for an attorney. Thus, the total of $13,592.50 is less than the product of $190
multiplied by 72.50.
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greater than Sanford’s. In keeping with these prior decisions, a reasonable hourly rate for Sanford
is $275. The requested hourly rates for West’s time is consistent with the prior decisions of the
Court, so those hourly rates are deemed reasonable. No information was provided to the Court
regarding VK. VK is not identified by name nor are VK’s qualifications described anywhere in the
moving papers. Therefore, VK’s time will be disallowed. Similarly, S is not identified, and the time
entry for S appears to be clerical work. “Secretaries’ salaries come within a firm’s overhead.
Secretarial work on a case should not be billed to a client, nor to an opposing party in a fee-shifting
case.” Gilster v. Primebank, 884 F. Supp. 2d 811, 872 (N.D. Iowa 2012). Therefore, the time billed
by S will be disallowed.
After making these reductions, the initial lodestar calculation is:
Josh Sanford
Josh West
Josh West
Josh West
TOTAL

20.1 hours x $275 =
1.1 hours x $95 =
.6 hours x $60 =
69.2 hours x $190 =

$5,527.50
$104.50
$36.00
$13,148.00
$18,816.00

Based on that number, the ten percent “haircut” would be $1,881,2 which results in a fee award of
$16,935.00.
Defendants argue, in part, that the fee award should be limited to a percentage of the
recovery by the named plaintiffs. The Eighth Circuit has rejected a rule of proportionality in civil
rights cases because tying the fee award to the recovery would discourage litigants from pursuing
cases with small amounts of damages. Simpson v. Merchants & Planters Bank, 441 F.3d 572, 581
(8th Cir. 2006).

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The ten percent haircut is justified here because of the many entries for more than one
lawyer to review a document and for internal communications.
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CONCLUSION
The plaintiffs’ motion for costs and attorneys’ fees is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED
IN PART. Document #23. Attorneys’ fees are awarded in the amount of $16,935. In addition, costs
and expenses are awarded in the amount of $600. The total amount is $17,535. A judgment will
be entered separately.
IT IS SO ORDERED this 6th day of November, 2015.

J. LEON HOLMES
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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