Ada County Highway District v. Northwest Pipeline GP

Filing 29

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER. IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff Ada County Highway Districts shall be awarded attorneys fees in the amount of $15,404.00. Signed by Judge B. Lynn Winmill. (caused to be mailed to non Registered Participants at the addresses listed on the Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF) by (cjm)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF IDAHO

ADA COUNTY HIGHWAY DISTRICT,
a body politic corporate of the State of
Idaho,

Case No. 1:12-cv-00184-BLW
MEMORANDUM DECISION AND
ORDER

Plaintiff,
v.
NORTHWEST PIPELINE GP, a general
partnership,
Defendant.

INTRODUCTION
On October 3, 2012, the Court entered an order granting Plaintiff Ada County
Highway District’s Motion for Attorney Fees (Dkt. 22). In the Order, the Court directed
the Highway District to submit an affidavit detailing the reasonable attorneys’ fees
incurred in bringing its Motion to Remand (Dkt. 6). The Highway District requests
attorney fees in the amount of $15,696.50. For the reasons set forth below, the Court will
award the Highway District attorney fees in the amount of $15,404.00.

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER - 1

ANALYSIS
Awarding attorneys’ fees on remand is discretionary. Section 1447(c) provides:
“An order remanding the case may require payment of just costs and actual expenses,
including attorney fees, incurred as a result of the removal.” 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c). To
determine a reasonable fee award, the Court must engage in a two-step inquiry. First, the
Court must calculate the “lodestar figure” by multiplying the number of hours reasonably
spent on the litigation by a reasonable hourly rate. See, e.g., Fischer v. SJB–P.D. Inc.,
214 F.3d 1115, 1119 (9th Cir.2000). Second, the Court must decide whether to enhance
or reduce the lodestar figure based on several factors—known as the Kerr factors—to the
extent those factors are not already subsumed in the initial lodestar calculation. Id. The
relevant Kerr factors are: (1) time limitations imposed by the client or the circumstances;
(2) the amount involved and the results obtained, (3) the experience, reputation, and
ability of the attorneys, (4) the “undesirability” of the case, (5) the nature and length of
the professional relationship with the client, and (6) awards in similar cases. See Kerr v.
Screen Extras Guild, Inc., 526 F.2d 67, 70 (9th Cir.1975).
To determine a reasonable hourly rate, the district court looks to hourly rates
prevailing in the relevant legal community for similar work performed by attorneys of
comparable skill, experience, and reputation. Ingram v. Oroudjian, 647 F.3d 925, 928
(9th Cir.2011) (per curiam). The “relevant legal community” is generally the forum in
which the district court sits. Mendenhall v. NTSB, 213 F.3d 464, 471 (9th Cir. 2000).

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER - 2

Here, the attorneys involved request the following rates: Michael E. Baldner $225.00; Jason G. Dykstra - $195.00; and Brian J. Holleran - $170.00. Attorney Dykstra
submitted an affidavit stating that these are reasonable rates in Boise, the relevant
community where the case was filed. Defendant Northwest Pipeline GP does not object
to these rates, and the Court finds they are reasonable.
Next, the Court must determine whether the time spent on this matter – 77.4 hours
– was reasonable. Northwest Pipeline argues that 36.7 of the hours should not be allowed
because they are duplicative and excessive, and another 1.3 hours should not be allowed
because the time-entry description was unreasonably vague. The Highway District
responds that the process of ascertaining actual ownership of Northwest proved to be a
“significant endeavor” because Williams Partners L.P., which has 100 percent ownership
of Northwest, has over 73,000,000 publicly-traded partnership units.
Given the complexity of investigating proving Northwest’s ownership, which was
necessary to prove its citizenship for diversity purposes, the Court finds that the time the
Highway District spent was reasonable. The Court, however, does find that Attorney
Baldner’s 1.3-hour entry (at a rate of $225 per hour) – “Attention to remand matters” – is
unreasonably vague, and therefore the Court will not allow those hours.
“The lodestar amount is presumptively the reasonable fee amount, and thus a
multiplier may be used to adjust the lodestar amount upward or downward only in ‘rare’
and ‘exceptional’ cases, supported by both ‘specific evidence’ on the record and detailed
findings by the lower court[ ] that the lodestar amount is unreasonably low or

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unreasonably high.” Van Gerwen v. Guarantee Mut. Life Co., 214 F.3d 1041, 1045 (9th
Cir. 2000). This is not a rare or exceptional case where the lodestar amount is
unreasonably low or high. The Court will therefore award the Highway District the sum
of $15,404.00 in attorneys' fees.
ORDER
IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff Ada County Highway District’s shall be awarded
attorneys’ fees in the amount of $15,404.00.

DATED: June 6, 2013

_________________________
B. Lynn Winmill
Chief Judge
United States District Court

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