Walker et al v. Williamson et al

Filing 593

ORDER granting 586 Motion for Attorney Fees; granting 588 Motion for Attorney Fees. Pohl is awarded $40,245.00 in attorneys' fees. Williamson and Rusnak are awarded $3,803.25 in attorneys' fees. Signed by District Judge Keith Starrett on 3/29/2018 (srd)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI
SOUTHERN DIVISION
SCOTT WALKER, et al.

PLAINTIFFS

v.

CIVIL ACTION NO. 1:14-CV-381-KS-JCG

JIMMY WILLIAMSON, et al.

DEFENDANTS

ORDER
This matter is before the Court on the Motions for Attorney Fees [586][588] filed by
Defendants. In its previous Order [585], the Court awarded Defendants all reasonable and
necessary attorneys’ fees associated with their Motion to Enforce Settlement Agreement [520] and
their Motion for Order to Show Cause [535].1
The Fifth Circuit “appl[ies] a two-step method for determining a reasonable attorney’s fee
award.” Combs v. City of Huntington, Tex., 829 F.3d 388, 391 (5th Cir. 2016) (citing Jimenez v.
Wood Cnty., 621 F.3d 373, 379 (5th Cir. 2010), on reh’g en banc, 660 F.3d 841 (5th Cir. 2011)).
First, the Court calculates the lodestar, “which is equal to the number of hours reasonably expended
multiplied by the prevailing hourly rate in the community for similar work.” Id. at 392. In doing
so, the Court “should exclude all time that is excessive, duplicative, or inadequately documented.”
Id. “Though the lodestar is presumed reasonable,” the Court is allowed to increase or decrease the
award amount based on the twelve factors listed in Johnson v. Georgia Highway Express, Inc. Id.

1

Precision and Favre argue in response to the motions at bar that Defendants are not entitled to these fees. Because
the Court has already definitively ruled that they are, these arguments are baseless and will not be considered. Any
objection to the Court’s prior order Precision and Favre wished to make to this Court should have been done in a
motion for reconsideration.

A.

Pohl’s Motion for Attorney Fees [586]

Pohl’s attorneys list their billing rates as $450.00 for Billy Shepherd, $375.00 for Stephen
Bailey, and $325.00 for William E. Whitfield/James E. Welch.2 Because this Court has previously
held that rates as high as $400.00 are reasonable for this type of complex litigation, the Court will
use the given rates for Stephen Bailey and William E. Whitfield/James E. Welch, but will decrease
Billy Shepherd’s rate to $400.00. See Lamar Co., LLC v. Harrison Cnty. Sch. Dist., No. 1:17-CV206-LG-RHW, 2017 WL 642774, at *2 (S.D. Miss. Dec. 18, 2017).
Pohl’s attorneys claim to have expended a grand total 210.3 hours on the Motion to Enforce
Settlement [520] and Motion for Order to Show Cause [535], with 116.7 done by Billy Shepherd,
67.8 done by Stephen Bailey, and 25.8 done by William E. Whitfield/James E. Welch. This
number is clearly excessive, especially in light of the relief requested by both of these motions.
Much of the relief asked for these motions was aimed at the ongoing litigation in Texas, which the
Court found to be inappropriate. (See Order [585] at p. 4.) In fact, no relief was granted other
than attorneys’ fees. Given these circumstances, the Court finds that the hours expended on these
motions was vastly excessive when compared to any proper purpose brought by them. To cure
this excessiveness, the Court will reduce the number of hours for each attorney by 50 percent. The
total of reasonable hours expended, then, is 105.15, with 58.35 attributed to Billy Shepherd, 33.9
to Stephen Bailey, and 12.9 to William E. Whitfield/James E. Welch.

2

The attorneys argue that these rates are presumed reasonable because the Court already found them to be reasonable.
Attorneys are referring to the Court’s sanctions against the insurance carrier in this case, which required the carrier to
pay the rates of each of the lawyers involved in the pretrial/settlement conference because the carrier failed to send an
agent with authority as ordered. However, in awarding these sanctions, the Court did not analyze the reasonableness
of the attorneys’ rates.

2

Therefore, the lodestar for Billy Shepherd’s fees is $23,340.00, for Stephen Bailey is
$12,712.50, and for William E. Whitfield/James E. Welch is $4,192.50. The total for all attorneys
is $40,245.00.
Precision and Favre argue that the Johnson factors should further reduce this amount.
However, because the lodestar has already been decreased dramatically by the Court’s finding that
the hours billed were excessive, the Court does not find that a further reduction is warranted.
The Motion for Attorney Fees [586] will therefore be granted, and Pohl is awarded
$40,245.00 in attorneys’ fees.
B.

Williamson and Rusnak’s Motion for Attorney Fees [588]

The lodestar is difficult to calculate for Williamson and Rusnak’s attorneys because the
attorneys did not specify which hours were billed at which rate nor did they total the number of
hours expended together. Instead, the attorneys give their individual rates and give a grand total
of $8,821.50 in fees expended. This is insufficient for the lodestar calculation. Therefore, the
Court is forced to add up the hours billed as presented to it in the Exhibit 2 [588-2] and multiply
those hours, if reasonable, by a reasonable rate. For this rate, the Court will use the smallest hourly
rate billed by Williamson and Rusnak’s attorneys, which is $165.00.3
Williamson and Rusnak’s attorneys claim that they expended 49.8 hours connected to the
Motion to Enforce Settlement [520] and Motion for Order to Show Cause [535]. From this total,
the Court deducts 3.7 hours that do not appear to have a direct relationship with these motions,
including hours spent on a show cause order dealing with sanctions against the insurance carrier
and hours spent on motions that were not before this Court. As with Pohl’s attorneys, the number
of hours will be reduced by 50 percent. The number of reasonable hours that will be used in the

3

Precision and Favre have not argued that this rate is unreasonable.

3

lodestar calculation therefore equals 23.05. Multiplying this by the hourly rate gives an amount
of $3,803.25. As with Pohl, the Court does not find that a further reduction under the Johnson
factors to be necessary.
The Motion for Attorney Fees [588] will be granted, and Williamson and Rusnak are
awarded $3,803.25 in attorneys’ fees.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the Motion for Attorney Fees
[586] is granted. Pohl is awarded $40, 245.00 in attorneys’ fees.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the Motion for Attorney Fees [588]
is granted. Williamson and Rusnak are awarded $3,803.25 in attorneys’ fees.
SO ORDERED AND ADJUDGED, on this, the 29th day of March, 2018.

s/Keith Starrett
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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