Bank of America N.A. v. Sea-Ya Enterprises LLC et al

Filing 90

MEMORANDUM OPINION regarding the amount of attorney's fees. Signed by Judge Richard G. Andrews on 3/4/2013. (nms)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF DELAWARE

BANK OF AMERICAN. A.,
Plaintiff,

v.

Civil Action No. 11-445-RGA

SEA-YA ENTERPRISES LLC., et al.,
Defendants.

MEMORANDUM
The only remaining disputed and unresolved issue is the amount of attorney's fees. The
contract provided that the Bank's remedies included "reasonable fees for any attorney"
representing the Bank in a court action. (D.I. 1-1, at 7). The Bank has submitted a Declaration
and billing records showing that the Plaintiff has $282,595.58 of attorney's fees. (D.I. 86-2). It
has submitted a proposed judgment including "attorney's fees, expenses, and court costs in the
amount of$278,418.08." (D.I. 86-3, at 2). The Defendants have objected. (D.I. 88). The
objection does not go into detail, as "Defendants ... do not believe that such an endeavor would
be a valuable use of their time." !d. It may be true that detailed objections would not be a
valuable use of the Defendants' time. Performing a detailed review without detailed objections
is similarly not a sensible use of the Court's time. Indeed, the Court could construe Defendants'
position as a waiver.
The Court has reviewed the docket in this case. Taking the "thirty thousand feet view,"
the Court notes that the attorney's fees are almost exactly 5% ofthe total judgment; the case,
although a "collection matter," was robustly litigated by both sides, including, by the Court's

count, eleven court proceedings (three in-person (D.I. 8, 41, 87), eight by telephone (D.I. 12, 16,
May 17,2012,47, 53, October 19,2012, October 31,2012, February 11, 2013), seven distinct
motions (D.I. 19, 27, 29, 59, 60, 62, 65), four depositions (D.I. 26, 55, 57, 58), and a pretrial
order (D.I. 79). The parties were two days from trial when the Court concluded that it could
grant summary judgment on the remaining issue. (December 17, 2012).
The Court views the Bank as having established the amount and reasonableness of its
attorney's fees. Thus, the Court will grant the final judgment in the amounts and form proposed
by the Bank.

:s-t--IJ

Date