Hugee v. Kimso Apartments, LLC et al

Filing 37

ORDER granting Hugee's 30 Motion for Attorney Fees: Please see the attached memorandum and order, granting Hugee a total fee award of $22,880 under the Administrative Code of the City of New York. Ordered by Judge John Gleeson on 4/3/2012. (Talbott, Rebecca)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

FOR PUBLICATION

HELEN HUGEE,
Plaintiff,
- versus -

MEMORANDUM
AND ORDER
11-CV-4996 (JG) (RER)

KIMSO APARTMENTS, LLC, and JOHN
DOE BUSINESS ENTITY,
Defendants.

JOHN GLEESON, United States District Judge:
Helen Hugee sued her landlord, Kimso Apartments, LLC (“Kimso”), and the
business entity that manages her apartment building, for disability discrimination. After the suit
was filed, Kimso completed all of Hugee’s desired repairs and Hugee no longer felt any need to
continue her lawsuit. Hugee settled with the defendants for $500 cash, but the settlement
agreement, which was signed outside the presence of Hugee’s attorney and without his
knowledge, did not make any provision for attorney’s fees. Hugee’s attorney, Adam Hanski,
here seeks an award of attorney’s fees and costs. For the reasons explained below, Hugee’s
motion for attorney’s fees and costs is granted to the extent of the amount set forth herein.
BACKGROUND
A.

Facts
The court held two evidentiary hearings on this matter – one on January 5, 2012,

and another on January 27, 2012. The court finds the following facts based on the testimony and
exhibits introduced at the hearings.

Helen Hugee is a resident of 240 Park Hill Avenue, Apartment 2C, Staten Island,
New York, 10304, and a tenant of the defendant Kimso. Hugee at 8.1 Hugee is disabled and has
been confined to a wheelchair for seven years. Id. at 9. The Park Hill Apartment complex
comprises a total of 1300 units, of which Kimso owns 400. Shah at 81. Unithree Investment
Corp. (“Unithree”) manages Kimso’s Park Hill Apartment units pursuant to a contract with
Kimso. Id.
On multiple occasions prior to mid-2011, Hugee asked Kimso to make
modifications to her apartment that she (correctly) believed were required by law: the doorways
to her kitchen, bedroom and bathroom needed widening; the kitchen and bathroom cabinets
needed lowering; and grab bars needed to be installed next to the shower and toilet in her
bathroom. Hugee at 13, 29. Kimso refused to make Hugee’s requested modifications unless
Hugee paid for them. Id. at 13. Hugee’s requests were generally made orally to her apartment
building’s rental or management office. Id. at 15.
Weary of living in apartments they felt did not comply with the federal and state
anti-discrimination laws, Hugee and some other disabled tenants, including Thomas Nimely,
discussed getting help from a lawyer. Id. at 14, 27-28. Through Nimely, Hugee was introduced
to her current attorney, Adam Hanski. Id. at 14, 28.
At Hugee’s invitation, Hanski came to Hugee’s apartment to discuss her need for
the structural alterations described above. Id. at 28-30. Hanski agreed to represent Hugee in her
effort to get Kimso to make the alterations at its own expense, not Hugee’s. The plan was to first
send a letter requesting that the work be performed. Id. at 14-15. If the landlord did not respond

1

I will use the testifying witness’s name paired with the transcript page number to refer to witness
testimony from the hearings on January 5, 2012, and January 27, 2012. Hugee testified at the January 27, 2012,
hearing. All other testifying witnesses testified at the January 5, 2012, hearing.

2

to the letter requesting modifications and accommodations, Hugee and Hanski agreed that
Hanski would file a lawsuit on her behalf. Id. at 22.
Hanski ghost-wrote a letter for Hugee addressed to Kimso and dated September
16, 2011. It requested all of the above-mentioned modifications to Hugee’s apartment, as well as
the following modifications to the shared areas of the apartment building: (1) installation of a
ramp at the main entrance; (2) repair and maintenance of a ramp at the back of the building; and
(3) elevator maintenance, repair or replacement and the provision of alternative accommodations
when the elevator is out of service. Cf. Ex. G;2 Ex. B (Nimely, ECF No. 20); Compl. ¶¶ 28-31,
ECF No. 1.3 The letter requested that Kimso contact Hugee regarding these modification
requests no later than October 3, 2011. See Compl. ¶ 32.
Not having received a response to this letter, Hanski filed this lawsuit on October
13, 2011, alleging that Kimso had repeatedly refused or ignored Hugee’s reasonable
accommodation requests.
Unithree eventually responded to Hugee’s letter. In a letter to Hugee dated
October 27, 2011, Unithree agreed to lower the cabinets in Hugee’s bathroom and kitchen and to
install grab bars next to her shower and toilet, at its own expense. Ex. G. Unithree also agreed
to “determine the financial and structural feasibility of widening” her kitchen, bathroom, and
bedroom doorways. Id. Unithree refused to install a ramp at the front of the building, and it

2

Many of the exhibits used at the two evidentiary hearings are filed on the docket for this case
under their exhibit numbers at docket entries 20-27 on ECF. I will refer to these exhibits simply as “Ex. --.” Other
exhibits used at the hearing were filed in the dockets of the related cases of Davis v. Kimso Apts., LLC, No. 11-CV5151 (JG) (RER) (E.D.N.Y.) (“Davis”), and Nimely v. Kimso Apts., LLC, No. 11-CV-4997 (JG) (RER) (E.D.N.Y.)
(“Nimely”). I will refer to these exhibits as “Ex. --,” followed by the short form of the case in which it is filed
(“Davis” or “Nimely”) and its electronic docket entry information in parentheses.
3
This September 16, 2011, letter from Hugee has not been provided to the court nor entered into
evidence. I am left to surmise its contents through inference from various other sources, including Kimso’s response
letter (Ex. G) and a similar letter that Hanski drafted for Nimely (Ex. B, Nimely, ECF No. 20), as well as general
witness testimony about the letter. Hugee’s Complaint also describes this letter and its contents, see Compl. ¶¶ 2832, although Kimso’s Answer denies each of these allegations without elaboration, see Ans., ECF No. 8.

3

agreed to replace the ramp at the back of the building only if Hugee would pay for it. Id.
Finally, Unithree stated that it “makes great efforts at ensuring the continuous operability and
safety of the elevator in your building.” Id.
Kimso began making the modifications to Hugee’s apartment on or around
November 15, 2011. Hugee at 23-24; see also Ex. H. Kimso made all of the repairs that Hugee
requested inside her apartment unit. Ruiz at 145-46; Hugee at 16-17. The work took about 20
days and was completed around December 12, 2011. Ruiz at 145; Hugee at 17; see also Ex. J.
Hugee was happy and satisfied with the work. Ruiz at 146; Hugee at 17-19, 21-22. Once the
repairs were done, Hugee no longer felt any need to continue with her lawsuit. Hugee at 18, 2122.
Meanwhile, when he learned of this lawsuit (and of the companion lawsuits filed
by Nimely4 and another disabled tenant named Alona Davis5), Darshan Shah, the Vice President
of Unithree,6 was not pleased. Shah summoned Hugee’s younger sister, Minnie Graham, with
whom he coincidentally had a professional connection. Shah at 83-84. Graham, a former tenant
of Kimso, works for an entity called Empowerment Zone, Inc., a community-based organization
that enjoys free office space in the Park Hill Apartment complex and has a consulting
arrangement with Unithree. Graham at 122-23. Shah sent Graham to speak to her sister about
the lawsuit. Graham at 114. Graham reported back to Shah that Hugee was not aware that a
lawsuit had been filed on her behalf. Id.
Shah thereupon set upon a course to avoid paying attorneys’ fees in any of the
three cases and to ruin Hanski. In early December 2011, Shah prepared various documents for

4

See Nimely v. Kimso Apts. LLC, No. 11-CV-4997 (JG) (RER) (E.D.N.Y.).
See Davis v. Kimso Apts. LLC, No. 11-CV-5151 (JG) (RER) (E.D.N.Y.).
6
Shah is a practicing physician who works as an internist and cardiologist in Brooklyn. Shah at 89.
He visits the Kimso apartment complex to perform his Unithree duties about once or twice a week. Id.
5

4

Hugee, Davis and Nimely to sign. One was a settlement agreement purporting to resolve each
tenant’s respective lawsuit for a sum of $100.7 See Ex. I. Another was an acknowledgment by
affidavit of the work that had been completed in the tenant’s apartment, which also stated that
Kimso “has not discriminated against me due to my disability in any form, way, shape or manner
and actually treated me and my disability with the utmost respect and shown commendable
sensitivity.” See Ex. J. A third was a letter from each tenant addressed to Hanski with the
subject line “Firing you acting as my lawyer . . . .” See ECF No. 10 at 2; see also Davis, ECF
No. 9, Ex. C. The letter falsely stated that Hanski appeared at the tenant’s apartment door,
unannounced and uninvited, and offered his legal services; that Hanski had gotten the tenant to
sign papers without explaining what they were; that the tenant had never told Hanski that he or
she had been subjected to disability discrimination by Kimso; that Hanski never told the tenant
that he would start a lawsuit on his or her behalf; and that the tenant had settled the case with the
landlord without Hanski’s help. Id. The letter purported to fire Hanski and to warn him not to
contact the tenant again. Id.8
Shah then got Graham – whose bias in favor of Kimso and Unithree was patent –
to visit Hugee in her apartment on December 12, 2011, and induce her to unknowingly sign each
of these documents. See Exs. I, J; ECF No. 10. Motivated by her business relationship with

7

When Hugee signed her settlement agreement, she crossed out $100 and changed it to $500. See
Ex. I. Shah had authorized Graham to offer up to $500 cash to the tenants to sign the settlement agreements. Shah
at 130.
8
Shah also prepared another letter for the tenants’ signatures that was addressed to the Clerk of the
Court of the Eastern District of New York. See Ex. Q; see also ECF No. 10 at 1. It stated that “[t]here never was
any discrimination done against me due to my disability by my landlord,” “[t]he lawsuit was started without my
knowledge or consent,” “I never asked Mr. Hanski to start a lawsuit in my name,” “Mr. Hanski never informed me
or advised me that there was going to be a lawsuit,” “I have fired Adam Hanski as my lawyer,” “I have made direct
settlement with Kimso Apartments,” and “I am sorry that the Court’s time was wasted in my name – all due to the
unnecessary and irresponsible action of Mr. Hanski.” Id. Hugee also signed this letter on December 12, 2011. Id.
This letter together with the letter firing Hanski were mailed to the court via certified mail on December 15, 2011,
received by the court on December 22, 2011, and entered on the docket as filed on December 16, 2011. See ECF
No. 10.

5

Unithree, Graham did one of the very things the letter falsely accused Hanski of doing – that is,
she got her sister to sign a document without explaining what was in it.
Worse yet, Shah used Graham to manipulate Hugee to sign a serious misconduct
complaint about Hanski to the New York State Bar Association. See Ex. P. The letter falsely
stated that Hanski came to Hugee’s home uninvited as part of his practice of “preying on poor
people, like me, who are disabled.” Id. The letter falsely accused Hanski of conduct that was
“unprofessional and unethical at best and outright predatory and fraudulent at worst.” Id. It
called for an investigation of Hanski and asked that he be disciplined. Id. Hugee signed this
document, along with the others, at Graham’s urging on December 12, 2011. Id.
It was Shah who was doing the preying on disabled people, not Hanski. In fact,
Hugee was pleased with Hanski, whose legal services she had sought, along with her fellow
tenants. Once Hanski arrived on the scene, they got the physical alterations that had been
repeatedly denied in the past.
As odious as Shah’s conduct in connection with Hugee’s case was, it pales in
comparison to what he did with respect to the cases filed by Davis and Nimely. With no basis at
all to conclude they were dissastisfied even in the slightest with Hanski, he prepared a similar set
of false documents for Davis and Nimely to sign, including identical complaints to the New York
States Bar Association. Shah in fact did not believe that Hanski was victimizing anyone.
Rather, he believed he could manipulate the three disabled tenants into signing false statements
simply by finally doing the required work on their apartments. By taking advantage of the
disabled tenants in this way, he believed he could terminate the lawsuits without paying Hanski’s
legal fees and teach Hanski a lesson not to represent any of his tenants.

6

Shah got Graham to get Hugee to unknowingly sign the phony accusatory
documents. He got a maintenance employee, Luis Ruiz, to similarly prevail on the infirm Davis,
who has since died. Shah at 95; see also Davis, ECF No. 9 (attaching signed documents as
exhibits); Davis, ECF No. 26 (announcing death). And through Graham he tried repeatedly to
get Nimely to sign them as well.
Graham and another woman named Marjorie Garvin visited Nimely’s apartment
on numerous occasions. Nimely at 14, 15-16; Shah at 101; Graham at 130-31. Graham and
Garvin told Nimely that his lawyer was no good and offered him money if he would sign the
papers. Nimely at 16, 19.9 But Nimely, who was pleased with Hanski as his lawyer, refused.
Graham at 130-31. The refusal immediately resulted in a retaliatory letter stating that he owed
back rent. Nimely at 20; see also Ex. 2 (Nimely, ECF No. 18) (ten-day notice).
Finally, Shah got Graham to induce Hugee to stay away from the evidentiary
hearing on January 5, 2012. Graham at 127. The reason they needed to do so was obvious when
Hugee appeared at the Court’s direction on January 27, 2012, and testified to what had really
happened.
B.

Procedural History
This lawsuit was commenced on October 13, 2011. See Compl. The Complaint

alleged that Kimso had repeatedly refused or ignored Hugee’s reasonable accommodation
requests, and asserted causes of action for: (1) violation of the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”), 42
U.S.C. § 3601, et seq.;10 (2) violation of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act
9

Graham and Garvin did not offer a specific amount to Nimely, but told him they’d “give him some
money for Christmas,” but that he shouldn’t be “ridiculous” or “extravagant” in the amount that he asked for.
Nimely at 19-20.
10
The FHA prohibits, in relevant part, the “refusal to make reasonable accommodations in rules,
policies, practices, or services when such accommodations may be necessary to afford [a] person [with disabilities]
equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.” 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B). The Department of Housing and Urban
Development (“HUD”) regulations provide examples of reasonable accommodations under the FHA, which include

7

(“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. § 12181; (3) violation of New York State Executive Law § 296; (4)
violation of the Administrative Code of the City of New York (“NYC Admin. Code” or “NYC
Human Rights Law”) § 8-107;11 (5) violation of New York State Civil Rights Law § 40; (6)
common law negligence; and (7) breach of the warranty of habitability. Compl. ¶¶ 38-125.
On December 22, 2011, this court received a letter apparently from Hugee dated
December 12, 2011, addressed to the Clerk of the Court, informing the court that this lawsuit
was commenced without Hugee’s knowledge, consent or authorization. ECF No. 10. The letter
further stated that Hugee had fired Hanski as her lawyer, and attached the letter purporting to
discharge Hanski as her attorney. Id. The letter also stated that Hugee had settled with Kimso
and that “[t]here never was any discrimination done against me due to my disability by my
landlord.” Id. The letter concluded by saying, “I am sorry that the Court’s time was wasted in
my name – all due to the unnecessary and irresponsible action of Mr. Hanski.” Id.

allowing the use of a seeing-eye dog in spite of a no-pets policy and allowing the reservation of a parking space in
spite of a general first-come first-served parking policy. See 24 C.F.R. § 100.204(b). Such reasonable
accommodations are distinct from reasonable modifications that are “necessary to afford [a] person [with
disabilities] full enjoyment of the premises,” which the FHA prohibits a landlord from refusing to permit the tenant
to undertake at the tenant’s expense, but does not require the landlord to undertake at its own expense. See 42
U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(A). Examples of reasonable modifications are the installation of grab bars and the widening of
doorways. See 24 C.F.R. § 100.203. The FHA also prohibits retaliation for the exercise of FHA rights: “It shall be
unlawful to coerce, intimidate, threaten, or interfere with any person in the exercise or enjoyment of, or on account
of his having exercised or enjoyed, or on account of his having aided or encouraged any other person in the exercise
or enjoyment of, any right granted or protected by section . . . 3604 . . . of this title.” 42 U.S.C. § 3617.
11
Section 8-107(5) (contained in chapter 1 of title 8) of the Administrative Code of the City of New
York prohibits landlords and managing agents of housing accommodations from “discriminat[ing] against any
person because of such person’s actual or perceived . . . disability.” The section also requires the landlord to “make
reasonable accommodation to enable a person with a disability to . . . enjoy the right or rights in question provided
that the disability is known or should have been known by the covered entity.” Id. § 8-107(15). “The term
‘reasonable accommodation’ means such accommodation that can be made that shall not cause undue hardship in
the conduct of the covered entity’s business.” Id. § 8-102(18). The section also prohibits retaliating against a tenant
because she has “(i) opposed any practice forbidden under this chapter, (ii) filed a complaint, testified or assisted in
any proceeding under this chapter, [or] (iii) commenced a civil action alleging the commission of an act which
would be an unlawful discriminatory practice under this chapter.” Id. § 8-107(7). Section 8-502 provides a private
cause of action for violations of the NYC Human Rights Law as follows:
Except as otherwise provided by law, any person claiming to be aggrieved by an
unlawful discriminatory practice as defined in chapter one of this title . . . shall
have a cause of action in any court of competent jurisdiction for damages,
including punitive damages, and for injunctive relief and such other remedies as
may be appropriate . . . .

8

On December 27, 2011, Hanski filed a letter contesting that he had solicited
Hugee as a client without invitation, and stating that Hugee had told him she was happy with his
services. ECF No. 12. The letter also stated that Hugee had told Hanski that she was unaware
that she had signed any letters addressed to the court or to the Bar Association or otherwise
complaining about Hanski’s representation. Id.
On December 28, 2011, Hanski filed a motion for a protective order to prevent
Kimso from communicating with Hugee or her family about the action. ECF No. 13. The
motion also sought an order voiding the false letters that Hugee denied signing. Id.
Also on December 28, 2011, Kimso opposed the effort to void the false
documents and the entry of a protective order. ECF No. 15. Counsel for Kimso represented that
any communications between Kimso and Hugee had been done in the absence of Kimso’s
counsel. Id. Kimso’s counsel stated that the principals of the lawsuit should be encouraged to
communicate with each other to resolve their dispute without the assistance of counsel “to avoid
swelling the Court’s docket with frivolous and unripe actions, as in this case.” Id. at 2. Kimso’s
counsel attached as exhibits to its letter the Acknowledgment by Affidavit (that we now know
was drafted by Shah) that Hugee signed on December 12, 2011, acknowledging that her
requested repairs had been completed and stating that Kimso “has not discriminated against me
due to my disability in any form, way, shape or manner and actually treated me and my disability
with the utmost respect and shown commendable sensitivity.” ECF No. 15, Ex. A. Next to the
typed words reading, “Management has also agreed to place me on the priority transfer list for a
lobby floor apartment,” Hugee wrote by hand, “I am completely satisfied with my current
apartment and have no desire to transfer,” next to which she placed her initials. Id.

9

On January 5, 2012, Hanski filed a motion to strike and void each of the letters
purportedly signed by Hugee that were mailed to the Clerk of Court. ECF No. 17. Hanski
attached a handwritten affidavit signed by Hugee on January 3, 2012, stating in full:
I, Helen Hugee, authorize my attorney, Adam Hanski, Esq.
of Hanski Law Practice, LLC[,] to settle the case on my
behalf, by either settling the lawsuit for the work done in
my apartment along with an appropriate payment of
attorney’s fees to Hanski Law Practice, LLC, Adam
Hanski, Esq. by Kimso Apartments, LLC, or by Adam
Hanski, Esq. filing a motion for attorney’s fees and
thereafter discontinuing the lawsuit after such attorney’s
fees are paid. To clarify, Adam Hanski, Esq., never came
to my door and solicited me. I authorized the lawsuit to be
filed on my behalf.
Sincerely,
Miss Helen E. Hugee.
ECF No. 17, Ex. A.
On the morning of January 5, 2012, the court held an evidentiary hearing to
determine whether Hugee’s lawsuit had been settled, whether to strike or void the letters filed
with the court, and whether any protective order should issue. See ECF No. 18 (minute entry for
January 5, 2012, evidentiary hearing). The hearing also addressed similar disputes in the related
cases of Davis and Nimely. Thomas Nimely, Daniel Bagliore, Darshan Shah, Minnie Graham,
and Luis Ruiz testified at the hearing. Hugee did not appear.
On January 27, 2012, the court continued the hearing to hear testimony from
Hugee. Based on the evidence presented at the two hearings, the court made some factual
findings on the record. The court found that Hugee’s case has been settled, pending a
determination of attorney’s fees. The court also stated on the record that, disturbingly with the
complicity of her own sister, Hugee had been induced to sign a false letter dated December 12,

10

2011,12 that mischaracterized Hanski’s conduct and Hugee’s understanding of her lawsuit. The
court reserved any determination regarding Hanski’s attorney’s fees, encouraging the parties to
settle the dispute without litigation, and suggesting that the parties agree to pay reasonable
attorney’s fees and stipulate that the court decide the amount of the fee. Although the parties
indicated they were open to this option, apparently no such agreement has been reached, because
the question of the fee award has since been aggressively litigated.
On February 8, 2012, Hanski filed his motion for attorney’s fees, seeking an
award of $57,030 in fees and costs, exclusive of any fees or costs accruing due to work on the
fee motion itself. Pl.’s Mo. for Atty Fees, ECF No. 30. On February 17, 2012, Kimso opposed
any fee award, and also “strongly dispute[d]” Hanski’s “egregiously excessive fee submissions.”
Kimso Opp., ECF No. 31. Hanski filed a reply on February 22, 2012, ECF No. 32, to which
Kimso filed a surreply on March 5, 2012, ECF No. 34. On March 8, 2012, Hanski filed an
opposition to Kimso’s surreply. ECF No. 35. On March 9, 2012, this court entered an order
directing the parties not to file any more submissions regarding Hanski’s motion for attorney’s
fees unless and until expressly requested to do so by the court. The motion has been fully
briefed.
DISCUSSION
A.

Eligibility for a Fee Award: “Prevailing Party” Status
Both city and federal law condition a fee-shifting award on the party’s achieving

“prevailing party” status. See 42 U.S.C. § 3613(c)(2) (“In a civil action [alleging a
discriminatory housing practice], the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party,
other than the United States, a reasonable attorney’s fee and costs.”); NYC Admin. Code § 8-

12

The court misstated orally that the letter was dated December 13, 2011; however, all the letters
complaining about Hanski were in fact signed and dated December 12, 2011. See Exs. P, Q; ECF No. 10.

11

502(f) (“In any civil action [by a person claiming to be aggrieved by an unlawful discriminatory
practice as defined in chapter one of this title], the court, in its discretion, may award the
prevailing party costs and reasonable attorney’s fees.”). Therefore, the threshold question in
deciding whether to award attorney’s fees and costs is whether Hugee was a prevailing party.
Federal and city law have different standards for answering that question.
1.

The Fair Housing Act

The Supreme Court has rejected the so-called “catalyst theory” as a basis for an
award of attorney’s fees under federal law. In Buckhannon, an FHA and ADA case, the
Supreme Court described the catalyst theory as positing that “a plaintiff is a ‘prevailing party’ if
it achieves the desired result because the lawsuit brought about a voluntary change in the
defendant’s conduct.” Buckhannon Bd. & Care Home, Inc. v. W. Va. Dep’t of Health & Human
Res., 532 U.S. 598, 601 (2001). Although most Courts of Appeals at the time had approved of it,
the Supreme Court rejected the catalyst theory as a basis for a fee award on the ground that it
“allows an award where there is no judicially sanctioned change in the legal relationship of the
parties,” and the change “lacks the necessary judicial imprimatur.” Id. at 605. Attorney’s fees,
the Court instructed, should not be awarded based on a mere “nonjudicial alteration of actual
circumstances.” Id. at 605 (internal quotation marks omitted).
The Court based its rejection of the catalyst theory on the plain meaning of the
term “prevailing party,” which the Court held to mean “one who has been awarded some relief
by the court.” Id. at 603. The Court also expressed concern that recognizing the catalyst theory
would “spawn[] a second litigation of significant dimension,” because the analysis, which
requires the court to determine “whether the lawsuit was a substantial rather than an insubstantial
cause of the defendant’s change in conduct” and “whether the defendant’s change in conduct was

12

motivated by the plaintiff’s threat of victory rather than threat of expense,” is a “highly
factbound inquiry” and “is clearly not a formula for ready administrability.” Id. at 609-10
(internal quotation marks omitted).
“[I]n order to be considered a ‘prevailing party’ after Buckhannon, a plaintiff
must not only achieve some ‘material alteration of the legal relationship of the parties,’ but that
change must also be judicially sanctioned.” Roberson v. Giuliani, 346 F.3d 75, 79 (2d Cir. 2003)
(quoting Buckhannon, 532 U.S. at 604) (§ 1983 case); see also Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S.
424, 433 n.7 (1983) (holding that the same standards are “generally applicable in all cases in
which Congress has authorized an award of fees to a ‘prevailing party’”). The Buckhannon
Court concluded that “enforceable judgments on the merits” and “settlement agreements
enforced through a consent decree” constitute sufficient “material alteration[s] of the legal
relationship of the parties” to justify attorney’s fee awards. Id. at 604-05 (internal quotation
marks omitted). The Second Circuit has subsequently held that these two forms of relief
identified in Buckhannon were merely “examples” rather than the exclusive avenues to achieving
prevailing party status. Roberson, 346 F.3d at 80-81. Accordingly, “judicial action other than a
judgment on the merits or a consent decree can support an award of attorney’s fees, so long as
such action carries with it sufficient judicial imprimatur.” Id. at 81.
The Roberson court went on to hold that where the parties reached a private
settlement agreement that expressly conditioned its effectiveness on the court’s retaining
jurisdiction to enforce the settlement, and where the Stipulation and Order of Discontinuance
signed by the court also expressly provided that the court “shall retain jurisdiction over the
settlement agreement for enforcement purposes,” the court’s order “gave judicial sanction to a
change in the legal relationship of the parties,” and so the plaintiffs were properly considered

13

“prevailing parties” entitled to an award of attorney’s fees. Id. at 83. The court explained that
“the district court’s retention of jurisdiction in this case is not significantly different from a
consent decree and entails a level of judicial sanction sufficient to support an award of attorney’s
fees.” Id. at 82.13 The Second Circuit has also subsequently held that a court’s “so ordering” a
settlement agreement that provided that dismissal of the lawsuit only took effect “[u]pon the
Court’s approval and entry of this Stipulation and Order,” where the court had had “extensive
involvement” in and “close management” of the settlement negotiations, likewise constituted
sufficient judicial imprimatur to justify prevailing party status. Perez v. Westchester Cnty. Dep’t
of Corr., 587 F.3d 143, 148, 150-53 (2d Cir. 2009); see also Preservation Coal. of Erie Cnty. v.
Fed. Transit Admin., 356 F.3d 444, 452 (2d Cir. 2004) (finding prevailing party status after court
order required defendants to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement under
threat of injunction).
A private settlement agreement, by contrast, does not “entail the judicial approval
and oversight involved in consent decrees,” and is not alone a sufficient material alteration of the
parties’ legal relationship to justify an award of attorney’s fees. See Buckhannon, 532 U.S. at
604 n.7. Moreover, even a court’s “so ordering” a stipulation of dismissal, without more, does
not carry with it a “sufficient judicial imprimatur” to confer prevailing party status, where the
stipulation does not “contain a provision expressly retaining jurisdiction to monitor compliance,”
13

See also Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 511 U.S. 375, 381 (1994) (noting in dicta that
“if the parties’ obligation to comply with the terms of the settlement agreement had been made part of the order of
dismissal – either by separate provision (such as a provision ‘retaining jurisdiction’ over the settlement agreement)
or by incorporating the terms of the settlement agreement in the order [–] . . . a breach of the agreement would be a
violation of the order, and ancillary jurisdiction to enforce the agreement would therefore exist.”); A.R. v. N.Y. City
Dep’t of Educ., 407 F.3d 65, 77-78 (2d Cir. 2005) (applying Buckhannon and Kokkonen to find administrative
agency’s order of dismissal of action that incorporated terms of settlement agreements rendered plaintiffs
“prevailing parties” entitled to attorney’s fees); Am. Disability Ass’n, Inc. v. Chmielarz, 289 F.3d 1315, 1320-21
(11th Cir. 2002) (finding that “if the district court either incorporates the terms of the settlement into its final order
of dismissal or expressly retains jurisdiction to enforce a settlement, it may thereafter enforce the terms of the
parties’ agreement . . . [, which authority] clearly establishes a ‘judicially sanctioned change in the legal relationship
of the parties,’ . . . sufficient to render [plaintiff] a ‘prevailing party’” entitled to attorney’s fees in an ADA action
(quoting Buckhannon, 532 U.S. at 605)).

14

and “there is nothing in the record indicating that the District Court carefully reviewed the terms
of the stipulation . . . before ‘so ordering’ it.” Torres v. Walker, 356 F.3d 238, 244 (2d Cir.
2003); see also Bell v. Bd. of Cnty. Comm’rs of Jefferson Cnty., 451 F.3d 1097, 1103 (10th Cir.
2006) (“[I]f a court does not incorporate a private settlement into an order, does not sign or
otherwise provide written approval of the settlement’s terms, and does not retain jurisdiction to
enforce performance of the obligations assumed by the settling parties, the settlement does not
bear any of the marks of a consent decree and does not confer prevailing party status on the party
whose claims have been compromised. A fee award cannot be based on an order that merely
recognizes the fact of the parties’ agreement and dismisses the case because there is no longer a
dispute before it.” (internal quotation marks and citations omitted)); Hess v. Astrue, No. 09-CV2516 (ENV) (VVP), 2010 WL 2723221, at *2 (E.D.N.Y. Apr. 2, 2010) (recommending against
prevailing party status where court only “so-ordered” the dismissal itself, and not the underlying
terms of the stipulation or settlement, stating that “[s]uch a fleeting whiff was not what the Court
in Buckhannon had in mind as a settlement bearing judicial imprimatur”), adopted by 2010 WL
2710447 (E.D.N.Y. July 6, 2010); Choudhury v. Barnhart, No. 04-CV-142 (RJH) (AJP), 2005
WL 2592048, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 11, 2005) (“Plaintiff offers no authority to support his claim
that ‘so ordering’ a voluntary motion for dismissal altered the legal relationship between the
parties such that he ‘prevailed’. . . . [Adopting the plaintiff’s position] would mean that anytime a
plaintiff filed a suit and then voluntarily dismissed it he would be entitled to attorneys’ fees,
regardless of whether his suit was meritorious. For exactly this reason the Second Circuit has
held that a ‘so-ordered’ stipulation of dismissal – absent a provision indicating that the
dismissing court intends to retain jurisdiction – does not carry with it a ‘judicial imprimatur’
sufficient to satisfy Buckhannon’s prevailing party test.”).

15

Here, the parties entered into a private settlement agreement, in which Hugee
agreed to dismiss her lawsuit and release all claims against Kimso in exchange for the
modifications made to her apartment unit and $500 in cash. See Ex. I. The agreement did not
provide for judicial supervision of the agreement’s enforcement, nor did it condition its
effectiveness on any action by the court. The court has not incorporated the terms of the
settlement agreement into an order of the court, nor does the court have jurisdiction to enforce
the terms of the settlement agreement. Indeed, the parties have not even submitted a stipulation
and order of dismissal for the court to “so order.” This case thus presents even less judicial
imprimatur than the insufficient “so-ordering” action in Torres, 356 F.3d at 244. Moreover, the
agreement itself makes no provision for attorney’s fees and provides that “this Agreement shall
not be deemed admission of wrongdoing, fault or liability on part of either side,” and “the parties
hereby expressly disclaim and deny any such liability.” Ex. I at 1-2. On these facts, the
settlement agreement reached by the parties was clearly a wholly private “nonjudicial alteration
of actual circumstances,” Buckhannon, 532 U.S. at 605 (internal quotation marks omitted),
which does not involve any judicial imprimatur so as to render Hugee a prevailing party under
the FHA. “Even though plaintiff[] obtained the relief [she] sought, that change was brought
about by defendant and not the Court.” Hess, 2010 WL 2710447, at *2; see also Perez, 587 F.3d
at 152 (“[D]ismissal was effectuated by . . . [the] mutual agreement of the parties, and did not
require any judicial action . . . .” (quoting Hester Indus., Inc. v. Tyson Foods, Inc., 160 F.3d 911,
916 (2d Cir. 1998))).
Moreover, the judicial time, court filings, and witness inconvenience occasioned
by this “highly factbound” post-settlement fee award application well exemplify the “second
litigation of significant dimension” the Supreme Court specifically cautioned against

16

countenancing under federal fee-shifting statutes. Buckhannon, 532 U.S. at 609-10 (internal
quotation marks omitted). Accordingly, no fee award can be entered on the FHA claim.14
2.

The Administrative Code of the City of New York

In direct contrast to federal law, New York City’s Human Rights Law expressly
recognizes the catalyst theory of prevailing party status, statutorily providing:
For the purposes of this subdivision, the term ‘prevailing’ includes
a plaintiff whose commencement of litigation has acted as a
catalyst to effect policy change on the part of the defendant,
regardless of whether that change has been implemented
voluntarily, as a result of a settlement or as a result of a judgment
in such plaintiff’s favor.
NYC Admin. Code § 8-502(f). In 2005, the City Council amended the city’s Human Rights Law
to clarify that “[t]he provisions of this title shall be construed liberally for the accomplishment of
the uniquely broad and remedial purposes thereof, regardless of whether federal or New York
State civil and human rights laws, including those laws with provisions comparably-worded to
provisions of this title, have been so construed.” Id. § 8-130. Moreover, courts must construe all
“provisions of the City’s Human Rights Law[] broadly in favor of discrimination plaintiffs, to
the extent that such a construction is reasonably possible.” Albunio v. City of New York, 16
N.Y.3d 472, 477-78 (2011). Thus, the question of whether Hugee was a prevailing party under
city law is whether Hugee’s “commencement of litigation . . . acted as a catalyst to effect policy
change” by Kimso, bearing in mind that I must endeavor to interpret this provision in favor of
Hugee to the extent reasonably possible.
14

I further note that Hugee’s structural modification requests fell squarely under the “reasonable
modifications” subsection of the FHA rather than the “reasonable accommodations” subsection, meaning Kimso
was only obligated to permit Hugee to make the repairs at her own expense – Kimso was under no obligation under
the FHA to finance the modifications itself. See 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(A)-(B); 24 C.F.R. § 100.203. Because the
very premise of Hugee’s lawsuit was that Kimso should make these repairs at its expense, the relief Hugee sought
(and obtained) from Kimso cannot in any sense be considered relief on the merits of Hugee’s FHA claim. Hugee’s
FHA claim therefore fails Buckhannon’s precept that a “plaintiff [must] receive at least some relief on the merits of
his claim before he can be said to prevail.” Buckhannon, 532 U.S. at 603 (internal quotation marks omitted)
(emphasis added).

17

The facts as elicited at the hearings in this case demonstrate that for at least a year
preceding the filing of this lawsuit, Hugee made repeated requests to the management of her
apartment building for structural modifications to her apartment unit, which were either ignored
or denied with the caveat that she could undertake such modifications at her own expense.
Eventually, she joined forces with a few other tenants with mobility impairments who were
similarly frustrated with inaccessibility problems and the management’s unresponsiveness to
their requests. These tenants decided to seek legal help with their situation. Through fellow
tenant Nimely, Hugee was introduced to Hanski, who agreed to help her secure structural
modifications at Kimso’s expense. Hanski made similar agreements with Nimely and Davis.
On September 16, 2011, Hugee signed and sent to Kimso a letter requesting
modifications. Although Hanski drafted this letter, apparently his name did not appear on the
document, nor did the letter mention that Hugee had retained counsel. Cf. Ex. G (Kimso
response letter to Hugee); Ex. B (Nimely, ECF No. 20) (Nimely letter to Kimso, drafted by
Hanski); Compl. ¶¶ 28-31. The letter requested that Kimso respond to Hugee no later than
October 3, 2011. See Compl. ¶ 32. Kimso did not respond to the letter in any way prior to
October 3, 2011.
On October 13, 2011, this lawsuit was filed, demanding that Kimso undertake the
structural modifications requested in the September 16, 2011, letter. The Summons and
Complaint were served on the Secretary of State (Kimso’s registered agent) on October 25, 2011,
at approximately 11:30 AM. ECF No. 3.15 The Secretary of State then forwarded the Summons
and Complaint to Kimso, but the evidence does not show when Kimso received them. For his
part, Shah recollects first learning of the lawsuits around November 8, but acknowledges that he

15

Nimely’s Complaint was served on the Secretary of State at the same time, see Nimely, ECF No.
3, and Davis’s Complaint was served three days later, on October 28, 2011, see Davis, ECF No. 2.

18

was not involved in the day-to-day operations of the apartments and was unaware of the previous
requests for modifications made by the plaintiffs. Shah at 82. Kimso’s lawyer entered a notice
of appearance on November 15, 2011. ECF No. 4.
The first time Kimso showed any responsiveness to Hugee’s requests was in a
letter addressed to Hugee dated October 27, 2011. Ex. G. In the letter, Kimso’s managing agent,
Unithree, agreed to make, or investigate the feasibility of making, most of Hugee’s requested
modifications to her apartment unit, but generally refused to make the requested modifications to
the building’s public areas. Id.
It is undisputed that on or around November 15, 2011, Kimso started making the
requested modifications to Hugee’s apartment. Hugee at 23-24; Bagliore at 53; Ex. H. By
December 12, 2011, the work was done, and Hugee was fully satisfied with her apartment. Ruiz
at 145; Hugee at 17; Ex. J. Around the same time, Kimso completed the requested modifications
in the other plaintiffs’ units as well: work began on Davis’s apartment on November 15 and
ended on November 18, Bagliore at 59; and work began on Nimely’s unit on November 17 and
ended on December 7, Bagliore at 44-45.
A simple retelling of this timeline is enough to demonstrate that Hanski’s
intervention was clearly a catalyst for Kimso’s sudden responsiveness to Hugee’s requests.
While Kimso had ignored her requests for over a year, once Hanski came on board, Kimso made
all of Hugee’s requested modifications, at its own expense, within a very brief time period.
The only problem here is that it is not merely Hanski’s intervention that must
catalyze Kimso’s about-face; it must be the “commencement of litigation” that drives the change
in order for Hugee to qualify as a “prevailing party.” By October 27, Kimso demonstrated a
willingness to provide at least some of Hugee’s requested modifications. This is a mere two

19

days after Hugee’s Complaint was served on the Secretary of State. The shortness of that time
period weakens the inference that Kimso was already aware of and acting in response to the
filing of the lawsuit at that time.
Nonetheless, because I am obliged to construe the city’s fee-shifting provision as
favorably to Hugee as possible, I conclude on this record that Hugee’s lawsuit “acted as a
catalyst” to alter Kimso’s policy toward undertaking such modifications, after which Kimso
“implemented voluntarily” the modifications. NYC Admin. Code § 8-502(f). Hugee filed and
served her lawsuit before Kimso indicated any willingness to make any modifications. Hugee’s
September 16 letter to Kimso put it on notice that she would likely take further legal action if she
did not receive a response by the stated deadline of October 3. When Kimso did not respond by
October 3, it was reasonable for it to foresee future legal action by Hugee. Although only two
days passed between service of the Complant and Kimso’s first response letter to Hugee, it is
entirely plausible that Kimso, aware such lawsuits may be imminent, was monitoring its legal
filings closely. The Secretary of State may have forwarded the process to Kimso by overnight
delivery. Kimso has presented no evidence of when it learned of the lawsuit,16 and therefore I
give Hugee the benefit of her filing and service dates. Moreover, the alacrity with which Kimso
ultimately executed the modifications – undertaken entirely at Kimso’s expense and taking only
27 days from beginning to end – compared with its utter unresponsiveness for the previous year
of requests, raises a reasonable, if not inescapable, inference that it was the threat and instigation

16

Kimso’s attorney asserts in his opposition to this motion that Kimso was unaware of the lawsuit
“until well after it agreed to perform the renovations.” Kimso Opp. at 1. However, this assertion is unsupported by
any competent factual evidence. But see Shah at 82 (stating that he learned of the lawsuits around Nov. 8, but
acknowledging that he was unaware of any requested renovations prior to learning of the lawsuits because he
doesn’t handle the day-to-day management of the apartments). Shah was not a credible witness, and I do not credit
his testimony regarding when he learned of the lawsuit.

20

of litigation that prompted Kimso’s otherwise inexplicable policy reversal. I find that the lawsuit
prompted the change of heart and the structural modifications to Hugee’s apartment.
In sum, I conclude that Hugee was a prevailing party for purposes of New York
City’s Human Rights Law, rendering her eligible for an attorney fee award under section 8502(f) of the Administrative Code of the City of New York.
B.

Determining the Appropriate Fee Award
“A plaintiff who has “prevail[ed]” in the litigation has established only his

eligibility for, not his entitlement to, an award of fees.” LeBlanc-Sternberg v. Fletcher, 143 F.3d
748, 758 (2d Cir. 1998). “The district court retains discretion to determine, under all the
circumstances, what constitutes a ‘reasonable’ fee, and in appropriate circumstances the court
may conclude that, even though a plaintiff has formally prevailed, no award of fees to that
plaintiff would be reasonable.” Id. (internal citations omitted). “[A] ‘reasonable’ fee is a fee that
is sufficient to induce a capable attorney to undertake the representation of a meritorious civil
rights case.” Perdue v. Kenny A., 130 S. Ct. 1662, 1672 (2010).
In awarding attorney’s fees under the New York City Human Rights Law, the
court can use the same principles that govern such awards in federal civil rights cases. McGrath
v. Toys “R” Us, Inc., 3 N.Y.3d 421, 426, 429 (2004) (holding that NYC Admin. Code § 8-502(f)
should be interpreted “consistently with federal precedent” because “the attorney’s fee provision
of the New York City Human Rights Law is textually indistinguishable from the federal
statutes”). The starting point for determining a reasonable attorney’s fee in a federal civil rights
action is the “lodestar,” which is “calculated by multiplying the number of hours reasonably
expended on the litigation times a reasonable hourly rate.” Blanchard v. Bergeron, 489 U.S. 87,
94 (1989) (internal quotation omitted). The lodestar figure constitutes a “presumptively

21

reasonable fee.” Arbor Hill Concerned Citizens Neighborhood Ass’n v. Cnty. of Albany, 522
F.3d 182, 190 (2d Cir. 2008). It is “strong[ly]” presumed that the lodestar represents a
reasonable fee, precisely because the lodestar’s calculus “includes most, if not all, of the relevant
factors constituting a ‘reasonable’ attorney’s fee.” Perdue, 130 S. Ct. at 1673 (internal quotation
omitted). For example, the novelty and complexity of a case will be subsumed in the
determination of the reasonable number of hours spent, and the quality of an attorney’s
performance will be reflected in the reasonable hourly rate. Id. Thus, “the lodestar method
produces an award that roughly approximates the fee that the prevailing attorney would have
received if he or she had been representing a paying client who was billed by the hour in a
comparable case.” Id. at 1672; see also Arbor Hill, 522 F.3d at 190 (holding that the court must
determine the “reasonable hourly rate . . . a paying client would be willing to pay,” recognizing
that “a reasonable, paying client wishes to spend the minimum necessary to litigate the case
effectively”). The burden is on the party seeking attorney’s fees to submit sufficient evidence to
support the hours worked and the rates claimed. Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 433
(1983).
1.

Reasonable Hourly Rate

The court must determine the reasonable hourly rate by reference to “the
prevailing market rates in the relevant community,” Perdue, 130 S. Ct. at 1672 (quoting Blum v.
Stenson, 465 U.S. 886, 895 (1984)), “for similar services by lawyers of reasonably comparable
skill, experience, and reputation.” Blum, 465 U.S. at 895 n.11. The relevant community is the
district in which the case is litigated. Simmons v. N.Y. City Transit Auth., 575 F.3d 170, 174 (2d
Cir. 2009); Lochren v. Cnty. of Suffolk, 344 F. App’x 706, 708 (2d Cir. 2009); Arbor Hill, 522
F.3d at 191. The burden rests with the prevailing party “to justify the reasonableness of the

22

requested rate.” Blum, 465 U.S. at 895 n.11. The attorney should “establish his hourly rate with
‘satisfactory evidence—in addition to the attorney’s own affidavits.’” Chambless v. Masters,
Mates & Pilots Pension Plan, 885 F.2d 1053, 1059 (2d Cir. 1989) (quoting Blum, 465 U.S. at
895 n.11). The court may also rely on “judicial notice of the rates awarded in prior cases and the
court’s own familiarity with the rates prevailing in the district.” Farbotko v. Clinton Cnty., 433
F.3d 204, 209 (2d Cir. 2005). “The specific rate that is reasonable for a given attorney depends
on such factors as the attorney’s experience and expertise, the novelty and complexity of the
issues presented, and the overall success achieved in the case.” Brady v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.,
455 F. Supp. 2d 157, 204 (E.D.N.Y. 2006) (quoting Luciano v. Olsten Corp., 109 F.3d 111, 116
(2d Cir. 1997)); see also Simmonds v. N.Y. City Dep’t of Corr., No. 06 Civ. 5298 (NRB), 2008
WL 4303474, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 16, 2008) (“The gravamen of a reasonable rate remains the
market rate that a reasonable client would expect to pay given ‘the nature of the representation
and type of work involved in a case.’” (quoting Arbor Hill, 522 F.3d at 184 n.2)).
Hanski requests that the court award him a rate of $400 per hour. He supports his
request with a declaration asserting that $400 per hour is his “current hourly rate,” Hanski Dec. ¶
27, ECF No. 30-1, and with citations to case law that he contends stand for the proposition that
“$400 is a reasonable current rate for a law firm partner prosecuting for victims of housing
discrimination.” Pl.’s Mo. for Atty Fees at 5.
Recent opinions from the Eastern District of New York have determined that
reasonable hourly rates in this district “are approximately $300-$450 per hour for partners, $200$300 per hour for senior associates, and $100-$200 per hour for junior associates.” Pilitz v. Inc.
Village of Freeport, No. 07-CV-4078 (ETB), 2011 WL 5825138, at *4 (E.D.N.Y. Nov. 17, 2011)
(citing Builders Bank v. Rockaway Equities, LLC, No. 08-CV-3575 (MDG), 2011 WL 4458851,

23

at *8 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 23, 2011) (“The range in this district is between $300 and $450 for
partners, between $200 and $300 for senior associates and between $100 and $200 for junior
associates.”); Olsen v. Cnty. of Nassau, No. 05-CV-3623 (ETB), 2010 WL 376642, at *4
(E.D.N.Y. Jan. 26, 2010) (determining reasonable hourly rates to be $375-$400 for partners,
$200-$250 for senior associates and $100-$175 for junior associates); Gutman v. Klein, No. 03CV-1570 (BMC), 2009 WL 3296072, at *2 (E.D.N.Y. Oct. 9, 2009) (approving rates of $300$400 for partners, $200-$300 for senior associates and $100-$200 for junior associates)).17 The
size of the firm may be considered, as large firms tend to charge higher hourly rates than small
firms. Chambless, 885 F.2d at 1059 (noting that “smaller firms may be subject to their own
prevailing market rate”); Cioffi v. N.Y. Cmty. Bank, 465 F. Supp. 2d 202, 219 (E.D.N.Y. 2006);
Brady, 455 F. Supp. 2d at 206-07; Murray ex rel. Murray v. Mills, 354 F. Supp. 2d 231, 236
(E.D.N.Y. 2005) (noting that hourly rates tend to be higher at large firms to compensate for
higher overhead costs). Although solo practitioners rarely command the fees of partners in large
law firms, “courts should not automatically reduce the reasonable hourly rate based solely on an
attorney’s status as a solo practitioner.” Porzig v. Dresdner, Kleinwort, Benson, N. Am. LLC,
497 F.3d 133, 143 n.6 (2d Cir. 2007) (internal quotation marks omitted); see Colon, 2012 WL
691544, at *20-21 (approving rate of $350 per hour for “seasoned” solo practitioners with over
17

See also Colon v. City of New York, Nos. 09 CV 0008 (JBW), 09 CV 0009(JBW), 2012 WL
691544, at *20 (E.D.N.Y. Feb. 9, 2012) (“[R]ates of $300 to $400 per hour for partners have been considered
reasonable in the Eastern District.”), report and recommendation adopted by 2012 WL 686878 (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 2,
2012); Luca v. Cnty. of Nassau, 698 F. Supp. 2d 296, 301 (E.D.N.Y. 2010) (awarding partner with over 25 years of
experience $400, appellate counsel with 20 years of experience $350 and solo practitioner with 20 years of
experience $275); Artemide Inc. v. Spero Elec. Corp., No. 09-CV-1110 (DRH) (ARL), 2010 WL 5452075, at *3
(E.D.N.Y. Nov. 23, 2010) (“Current prevailing rates for partners in the Eastern District range from $350 to $450.”),
report and recommendation adopted by 2010 WL 5452077 (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 28, 2010); Lochren v. Cnty. of Suffolk,
No. 01-CV-3925 (ARL), 2010 WL 1207418, at *3 (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 23, 2010) (awarding partner with 49 years of
experience $450); Morgenstern v. Cnty. of Nassau, No. 04-CV-58 (ARL), 2009 WL 5103158, at *9 (E.D.N.Y. Dec.
15, 2009) (awarding $400 per hour to partners and $200-$250 to associates); Duverger v. C & C Duplicators, Inc.,
No. 08-CV-0721 (DRH) (ARL), 2009 WL 1813229, at *2 (E.D.N.Y. June 25, 2009) (“Overall hourly rates for
attorneys approved in recent Eastern District of New York cases have ranged from $200 to $350 for partners, $200
to $250 for senior associates, $100 to $150 for junior associates and $70 to $80 for legal assistants.” (quoting Cruz v.
Henry Modell & Co., No. 05-CV-1450 (AKT), 2008 WL 905351, at *7 (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 31, 2008))).

24

20 years of litigation experience); Garland v. Cohen & Krassner, No. 08-CV-4626
(KAM)(RLM), 2011 WL 6010211, at *11 (E.D.N.Y. Nov. 29, 2011) (reducing rate of solo
practitioner with 20 years of experience to $300 per hour); Brown v. Starrett City Assocs., No.
09–CV–3282 (JBW), 2011 WL 5118438, at *6 (E.D.N.Y. Oct. 27, 2011) (approving rate of $300
per hour for solo practitioner with 12 years experience, with the past 7 years concentrating in
civil rights cases); Regan v. Conway, 768 F. Supp. 2d 412, 418 (E.D.N.Y. 2011) (approving rate
of $325 for solo practitioner); Luca, 698 F. Supp. 2d at 301 (awarding solo practitioner with 20
years of experience $275); Cioffi, 465 F. Supp. 2d at 219 (“Recent cases in the Eastern District of
New York have held that $175.00 to $200.00 per hour is an appropriate rate for a solo
practitioner.”) (collecting cases).
The highest rates in this district are reserved for expert trial attorneys with
extensive experience before the federal bar, who specialize in the practice of civil rights law and
are recognized by their peers as leaders and experts in their fields. See Luca, 698 F. Supp. 2d at
301 (awarding rate of $400 per hour to partner with over 25 years of experience “specializing in
plaintiffs-side civil rights cases,” whose “peers recognize him as an authority in his specialty, as
evidenced by his numerous teaching and speaking engagements,” and who has handled roughly
180 civil rights cases in the Eastern District of New York alone); Brady, 455 F. Supp. 2d at 20508 (awarding rate of $350 per hour to partner with “over ten years experience practicing law,”
“impressive academic and professional achievements establish[ing] that he is an experienced
labor lawyer and an expert in his field,” whose “writing has been published in several scholarly
and professional journals,” and who “has made multiple appearances as a labor law expert in the
lay media”); Lochren, 2010 WL 1207418, at *3 (awarding partner with 49 years of experience
$450 per hour); Duke v. Cnty. of Nassau, No. 97-CV-1495 (JS), 2003 WL 23315463, at *2

25

(E.D.N.Y. Apr. 14, 2003) (awarding $300 per hour – then a high-water mark for the Eastern
District of New York – to “experienced trial attorney with many years of experience before the
federal bar,” “specializing in the practice of civil rights law,” who had achieved a significant
victory after a jury trial).
Hanski’s declaration provides some background on his experience in civil rights
litigation. Hanski graduated from the Law Center of the University of Southern California in
1997, where he was on the Interdisciplinary Law Journal. Hanski Dec. ¶ 21. After graduation,
Hanski clerked for two federal bankruptcy court judges. Id. ¶ 22. Hanski then worked in private
practice for two years, a year each at two different law firms, on unspecified matters. Id. ¶ 23.
Neither of the two law firms that Hanski worked for have a practice in civil rights or housing
discrimination litigation. See Dewey & LeBoeuf, Services, http://www.deweyleboeuf.com/en/
Services; Whitman Breed Abbott & Morgan LLC, Practice Areas, http://whitmanbreed.com/
1_practice.html.
Beginning in September 2000, Hanski enrolled in Columbia University’s
Graduate School of Architecture, where he earned a Masters of Science in Real Estate
Development in September 2001. Hanski Dec. ¶ 24. From March 2002 through January 2011,
Hanski worked in real estate private equity, which one industry organization has defined as
“equity capital raised for a dedicated program of investing directly into property, primarily.” See
Private Equity Real Estate at 34 (May 2009), available at http://www.privateequityrealestate.net/
resources/PERE%2030/PERE_30_ExecutiveSummary.pdf (last visited March 27, 2012).
In early 2011, Hanski “decided to refocus [his] career on the legal side of real
estate, particularly as relates to the rights of people with disabilities in relation to the built
environment and thereafter formed Hanski Law Practice, LLC.” Hanski Dec. ¶ 26. A search of

26

the dockets of the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York reveals that through his newly
created law practice, Hanski has filed 22 lawsuits – all since August 2011, and many with the
same plaintiffs that appear in the related cases before me: Thomas Nimely and Alona Davis.18
Although I commend Hanski on his intrepidity in embarking on this new career
path, his current level of experience in civil rights litigation is much closer to a junior associate
than the senior partner whose hourly rate he hopes to claim. Hanski’s declaration leads me to
conclude that he had no prior experience bringing or litigating civil rights claims – and, indeed,
apparently no litigation experience whatsoever – prior to forming Hanski Law Practice, LLC, in
2011, and filing the lawsuits initiated in the fall 2011. As best I can tell, Hanski had never
drafted or filed a complaint in his life until August 9, 2011,19 two months before filing Hugee’s
lawsuit. Hanski’s appearances in my courtroom have done nothing to disabuse me of the
perception that he is not an experienced trial lawyer. Indeed, Hanski’s own billing records
betray his nascent concentration in this field. Belying his claimed familiarity with disability

18

In addition to the three related cases against Kimso pending before me, there are four other cases
brought by Hanski in the Eastern District of New York: Nimely v. Moftah et al., No. 1:11-cv-04149-ENV-JMA
(E.D.N.Y.) (filed 08/26/11); Davis v. Parisi Bay Street, LLC et al., No. 1:11-cv-05150-NG-JO (E.D.N.Y.) (filed
10/24/11); Thomas v. Hsiao et al., No. 1:12-cv-01128-ILG-SMG (E.D.N.Y.) (filed 03/08/12); Tuchina v. 64th
Apartment Corp. et al., No. 1:12-cv-01129-NGG-JMA (E.D.N.Y.) (filed 03/08/12).
In the Southern District of New York, there are 15 lawsuits filed by Hanski: Nimely v. SC Water
View LLC et al., No. 1:11-cv-05535-PAC (S.D.N.Y.) (filed 08/09/11); Nimely v. Whitehall Properties, LLC et al.,
No. 1:11-cv-05536-RMB-MHD (S.D.N.Y.) (filed 08/09/11; closed 03/12/12); Nimely v. 55 Broad Street L.P. et al.,
No. 1:11-cv-05809-CM (S.D.N.Y.) (filed 08/19/11; closed 11/07/11); Nimely v. 130 Water (NY) L.L.C. et al., No.
1:11-cv-05811-DLC (S.D.N.Y.) (filed 08/19/11; closed 02/08/12); De La Rosa v. 415 Second Owner’s Corp. et al.,
No. 1:11-cv-07661-DLC (S.D.N.Y.) (filed 10/28/11; closed 02/10/12); De La Rosa v. Dream Team Associates, LLC
et al., No. 1:11-cv-07851-AJN-FM (S.D.N.Y.) (filed 11/03/11); De La Rosa v. Dream Team Associates, LLC et al.,
No. 1:11-cv-07853-DCF (S.D.N.Y.) (filed 11/03/11); De La Rosa v. Gristede’s Foods Inc., No. 1:11-cv-08197-HBP
(S.D.N.Y.) (filed 11/14/11); Nimely v. 112 Fulton Street LLC et al., No. 1:11-cv-09031-PAC (S.D.N.Y.) (filed
12/09/11); Nimely v. 201 Pearl Street L.L.C. et al., No. 1:11-cv-09032-PGG (S.D.N.Y.) (filed 12/09/11); De La
Rosa v. Est Midtown Plaza Housing Company, Inc. et al., No. 1:11-cv-09190-ALC-AJP (S.D.N.Y.) (filed 12/15/11;
closed 02/29/12); Nimely v. Leviev Fulton Club, LLC et al., No. 1:12-cv-01626-DAB (S.D.N.Y.) (filed 03/06/12);
Nimely v. Mazal Group et al., No. 1:12-cv-01627-NRB (S.D.N.Y.) (filed 03/06/12); Nimely v. 150 William Street
Associates L.P. et al., 1:12-cv-01628-GBD (S.D.N.Y.) (filed 03/06/12); Nimely v. Liberty Street Realty LLC et al.,
No. 1:12-cv-01629-NRB (S.D.N.Y.) (filed 03/06/12).
19
See Nimely v. SC Water View LLC et al., No. 1:11-cv-05535-PAC (S.D.N.Y.) (filed 08/09/11);
Nimely v. Whitehall Properties, LLC et al., No. 1:11-cv-05536-RMB-MHD (S.D.N.Y.) (filed 08/09/11; closed
03/12/12).

27

discrimination law, Hanski required 33.9 hours to research and prepare the complaint in this case
– in spite of its striking similarity to the complaints he filed around the same time in the Nimely
and Davis cases. See Hanski Billing Records at 4-7, ECF No. 30-2. Later, in preparation for the
January 5 hearing, Hanski spent 9 hours researching the catalyst theory of fee recovery under the
City Administrative Code. See id. at 14 (entry #94). While I do not begrudge Hanski the time he
invested to learn the relevant law, and while I applaud careful lawyering, Hanski’s billing
records nonetheless make clear that his prosecution of this case is not buttressed by the easy
wisdom accreted over decades of experience that is brandished by the top-earning civil rights
lawyers in this district; rather he is building his very foundation in the subject area as he goes.
There is nothing wrong with that; every lawyer must start there. But clients and adversaries are
not asked to sponsor this professional development process to the tune of $400 per hour.
I conclude that Hanski’s reasonable billing rate is $200 per hour, which is
commensurate with the high end of a junior associate rate or the low end of a senior associate
rate,20 and which falls within the range awarded to solo practitioners in this district.
I also accept Hanski’s rate reduction of 50% for travel time. See Perdue, 130 S.
Ct. at 1670 (apparently approving of district court’s decision to “halve[] the hourly rate for travel
hours”); Barfield v. N.Y. City Health & Hospitals Corp., 537 F.3d 132, 139, 151 (2d Cir. 2008)
(affirming district court’s determination that “travel time by counsel should be compensated at
half-rate, in accordance with established court custom”); U.S. ex rel. Feldman v. Van Gorp, No.
03 Civ. 8135(WHP), 2011 WL 651829 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 9, 2011) (discounting fees for necessary
20

I note that most associates awarded a rate of $200 per hour by the Eastern District of New York
have substantially more experience in this field than Hanski. See, e.g., Pilitz, 2011 WL 5825138, at *5 (awarding
senior associates $200 per hour); Green v. City of New York, No. 05-CV-429(DLI) (ETB), 2009 WL 3088419, at *5
(E.D.N.Y. Feb. 13, 2009) (awarding associate with six years of experience $200 per hour), recommended again on
reconsideration, 2009 WL 5386046, at *3 (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 8, 2009), adopted in relevant part, 2010 WL 148128, at
*11 (E.D.N.Y. Jan. 14, 2010), aff’d, 403 F. App’x 626, 629 (2d Cir. 2010); Brady, 455 F. Supp. 2d at 208 (awarding
associates with five years of experience $200 per hour).

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travel time by 50%); LV v. N.Y. City Dep’t of Educ., 700 F. Supp. 2d 510, 526 (S.D.N.Y. 2010)
(“Courts in this Circuit regularly reduce attorneys’ fees by 50 percent for travel time.”);
Kochisarli v. Tenoso, No. 02-CV-4320 (DRH)(MLO), 2008 WL 1882662, at *8 (E.D.N.Y. Apr.
24, 2008) (“[T]ravel time is appropriately reimbursed at one-half of the determined hourly
rate.”); Cioffi, 465 F. Supp. 2d at 219 (“[T]ravel time . . . is to be reimbursed at one-half of the
determined hourly rate.”). See generally McDonald ex rel Prendergast v. Pension Plan of the
NYSA-ILA Pension Trust Fund, 450 F.3d 91, 98 (2d Cir. 2006) (“[D]ifferent rates can be set for
different litigation tasks” (citing Cohen v. W. Haven Bd. of Police Comm’rs., 638 F.2d 496, 505
(2d Cir. 1980))).
However, I decline to award Hanski his requested 25% rate for ministerial tasks,
and instead disallow compensation for those hours entirely. See Barfield, 537 F.3d at 139
(approving district court’s determination that time “spent on administrative tasks should not be
compensated at all”); Concrete Flotation Sys., Inc. v. Tadco Const. Corp., No. 07-CV-319
(ARR)(VVP), 2010 WL 2539661, at *1 (E.D.N.Y. June 17, 2010) (excluding all fees billed for
“secretarial work,” as well as travel time); Kochisarli, 2008 WL 1882662, at *9 (excluding all
time spent on “secretarial duties” as “noncompensable”); Jennette v. City of New York, 800 F.
Supp. 1165, 1170 (S.D.N.Y. 1992) (disallowing compensation for ministerial time because “this
time does not properly belong in the category of legal work for which a premium rate may be
sought . . . and . . . is normally subsumed within an attorney’s overhead” (internal quotation
marks and alterations omitted)).
2.

Hours Expended

The fee applicant “bears the burden of . . . documenting the appropriate hours
expended.” Hensley, 461 U.S. at 437. Thus, fee award applications must be documented with

29

“contemporaneous time records . . . [that] specify, for each attorney, the date, the hours
expended, and the nature of the work done.” N.Y. Ass’n for Retarded Children, Inc. v. Carey,
711 F.2d 1136, 1148 (2d Cir. 1983); see also id. at 1147 (“[C]ontemporaneous time records are a
prerequisite for attorney’s fees in this Circuit.”). In determining the amount of hours reasonably
expended, the court must “examine the hours expended by counsel and the value of the work
product of the particular expenditures to the client’s case.” Gierlinger v. Gleason, 160 F.3d 858,
876 (2d Cir. 1998) (quoting DiFilippo v. Morizio, 759 F.2d 231, 235 (2d Cir. 1985)). If the
documentation is inadequate, the court may reduce the award accordingly. See Hensley, 461
U.S. at 433-34. In addition, the court should exclude “excessive, redundant, or otherwise
unnecessary” hours from the lodestar calculation. Bliven v. Hunt, 579 F.3d 204, 213 (2d Cir.
2009) (quoting Hensley, 461 U.S. at 434); accord Luciano, 109 F.3d at 116 (“If the district court
concludes that any expenditure of time was unreasonable, it should exclude these hours from the
lodestar calculation.”). “In making this examination, the district court does not play the role of
an uninformed arbiter but may look to its own familiarity with the case and its experience
generally as well as to the evidentiary submissions and arguments of the parties.” Gierlinger,
160 F.3d at 876 (quoting DiFilippo, 759 F.2d at 236). “Hours that are not properly billed to
one’s client also are not properly billed to one’s adversary pursuant to statutory authority.”
Hensley, 461 U.S. at 434. District courts are authorized “to make across-the-board percentage
cuts in hours as a practical means of trimming fat from a fee application.” Green v. City of New
York, 403 F. App’x 626, 630 (2d Cir. 2010) (quoting In re Agent Orange Prod. Liab. Litig., 818
F.2d 226, 237 (2d Cir. 1987)).

30

In Hanski’s initial declaration, he seeks compensation for a total 134.5 hours of
attorney time, 7.5 hours of travel time,21 and 5.3 hours spent on ministerial activities,22 in
litigating Hugee’s case. Hanski Dec. In his supplemental declaration, Hanski seeks
reimbursement for an additional 15.8 hours of attorney time and 0.4 hours spent on ministerial
activities in relation to the instant motion for attorney’s fees. Hanski Supp. Dec., ECF No. 33.
As mentioned above, Hanski will not be compensated for ministerial activities.
Thus, the 5.3 hours from his initial declaration, and the 0.4 hours from his supplemental
declaration, will be excluded from the fee award. In addition, entry #104 from Hanski’s initial
declaration – 1.5 hours for “pick up transcript for 1-05-12 hearing (reporter leaving on holiday
and req’d check)” (capitalization omitted) – and entry #5 from Hanski’s supplemental
declaration – 0.9 hours for “prepared motion for filing and ECF file motion with exhibits” –
similarly should have been classified as ministerial time, and are hereby excluded. Accordingly,
a total of 8.1 hours are excluded from Hanski’s fee award as noncompensable ministerial time.23
Kimso does not object to Hanski’s claimed 7.5 hours of travel time,24 which was
primarily spent traveling to Staten Island to visit Hugee. I have already ruled above that Hanski
inappropriately classified 1.5 hours (entry # 104) as attorney travel, when in fact it was
ministerial. Subtracting this 1.5-hour time entry leaves Hanski with a claim for 6 hours of travel

21

Although Hanski states that his travel time totals 7.6 hours, he appears to have inadvertently
included a 0.10 hour from entry number 15 that was put in both the “attorney time” and “attorney travel” columns.
Because this entry relates to a telephone call, I conclude Hanski meant to label this 0.10 hour as attorney time rather
than travel time.
22
Although Hanski’s initial declaration states that the total claimed ministerial time is 5.1 hours, the
sum of the entries provided in his billing records is 5.3 hours.
23
The ministerial time entries appear in entry numbers 16, 37, 40-42, 44-45, 71, 73, 104 and 106 of
Hanski’s initial declaration and in entry numbers 5 and 10 of Hanski’s supplemental declaration. I note that entry
number 71 from Hanski’s initial declaration appears to account for time spent traveling to court for a court
conference, which Hanski might have been able to bill as travel time. However, because he has classified it as
ministerial, I will not second-guess his reasoning.
24
As noted above, I have subtracted from Hanski’s claimed 7.6 hours of travel time a stray 0.1 hour
from entry number 15 which appears to be in error.

31

time.25 I find this hourly figure to be reasonable, and, as noted above, compensable at a rate of
50% of Hanski’s full reasonable rate, or $100 per hour. Therefore, I award $600 in travel time.
Finally, Hanski seeks compensation for a total of 150.3 hours of attorney time
(134.5 hours in his initial declaration and 15.8 hours in his supplemental declaration). I have
already ruled above that 0.9 hours in Hanski’s supplemental declaration (entry #5) was
inappropriately classified as attorney time, when in fact it was ministerial time, so I will exclude
that time from Hanski’s fee award. This leaves 149.4 claimed hours of attorney time. Although
Kimso objects that “Hanski submits 16 pages of billing records in a case that did not raise any
complex issues and was settled in the early stages,” Kimso Opp. at 2, I have already reduced
Hanski’s hourly rate to account for his relative inexperience in this type of litigation, so I need
not similarly reduce his claimed hours on this ground.
However, Kimso is correct to point out that certain tasks included in Hanski’s
billing records equally benefited each of his three clients suing Kimso for disability
discrimination – Davis, Nimely, and Hugee. Accordingly, the time spent on these tasks should
be allocated equally across each of the three cases. In other words, the hours on such sharedbenefit tasks billed to Hugee’s matter specifically should be reduced by 1/3. The first such
shared-benefit task was the time Hanski spent researching the complaint’s causes of action –
because the three complaints filed against Kimso asserted identical causes of action, the time
Hanski spent researching and drafting the legal bases of Hugee’s complaint should be reduced by
1/3. Similarly, the time Hanski spent investigating Kimso’s building structure or compliance
with disability laws accrued to the benefit of each of his three clients, and thus should be reduced
by 1/3. Finally, the time Hanski spent preparing for the January 5, 2012, hearing should be
allocated equally across each of the three clients’ cases. The hearing was held to address factual
25

The travel time entries appear in entry numbers 1, 11 and 92 of Hanski’s initial declaration.

32

disputes arising in all three of the cases. The court ordered all three plaintiffs to appear and
testify, as well as all other persons who were involved in the drafting or presenting to the
plaintiffs of documents purporting to terminate the lawsuits and/or fire Hanski. In the end, the
only plaintiff who testified at the January 5 hearing was Nimely. However, according to Hanski,
up until the morning of the hearing he believed that Hugee would also attend and testify.26
Hanski Reply at 4, ECF No. 32. Moreover, Kimso’s witnesses testified to, and Hanski crossexamined them on, factual matters relating to all three plaintiffs. Clearly, Hanski’s preparation
for this hearing related to all three plaintiffs’ cases, and his time should be allocated accordingly.
Hanski asserts summarily in his declaration that the attorney time he purports to
bill on the Hugee case is “already reduced for time expended that can be allocated to the two
other cases involving this defendant,” such as “legal research for some causes of action, and
related complaint drafting,” and thus “[t]ime spent on those items has been reduced to 1/3rd of
the total hours for the particular items.” Hanski Dec. ¶ 28. However, Hanski’s billing records do
not reflect which entries have been reduced in this way, nor do they indicate what the original
time investment was prior to such a reduction. The burden is on the party claiming fees to
supply adequate documentation; if the documentation is inadequate, the court may reduce the
award accordingly. See Hensley, 461 U.S. at 433-34.
I find that Hanski’s documentation of his method of allocating his time across
these three related cases is inadequate to discern whether he has overbilled for tasks on the
Hugee matter in particular. Indeed, for many tasks that would clearly be subject to this 1/3
reduction, I cannot fathom that the records Hanski has produced are actually only 1/3 of the real
time he invested in the task. For example, on January 1, 2012, alone, Hanski purports to bill 9.3

26

Davis’s absence was excused by the court on January 3, 2012, due to her hospitalization. See
Electronic Order dated Jan. 3, 2012, Davis.

33

hours that were spent preparing his direct examination for the January 5, 2012, hearing. How
Hanski has already reduced this figure by 1/3 – meaning he actually spent roughly 28 hours on
this task in a 24-hour day – is beyond me. Similarly, on January 2, 2012, Hanski purports to bill
in the Hugee case alone 14.3 hours that he spent drafting cross-examination questions and
conducting other preparation for the upcoming hearing. Once again, I am skeptical that this
14.3-hour figure was arrived at by Hanski’s working 42.9 hours in a single day and then dividing
it by 3. Accordingly, I conclude that despite Hanski’s assurances, he has not properly allocated
across the three related cases the time he spent on tasks that promoted each of the cases,
especially the time spent researching and preparing the complaints and the time spent preparing
for the January 5, 2012, hearing. I therefore will reduce all such entries by 1/3 to reflect his
economies of scale in suing Kimso three times.
Accordingly, 83.4 total hours of attorney time claimed by Hanski will be
compensated in full (68.5 hours from the initial declaration and 14.9 hours from the
supplemental declaration).27 An additional 66 hours of attorney time will be reduced by 1/3,
producing another 22 hours for full compensation.28 Thus, I award Hanski a total of 105.4 hours
of attorney time compensated at a rate of $200 per hour, for a total of $21,080.
3.

Costs

Reasonable out-of-pocket expenses are generally reimbursed as a matter of right
in connection with an award of attorneys’ fees. U.S. Football League v. Nat’l Football League,
887 F.2d 408, 416 (2d Cir. 1989). Hanski seeks reimbursement of $1,200 of costs, largely
comprised of filing fees, transcript costs, and taxi fares. See Hanski Costs Record, ECF No. 303. Kimso objects to this request on the ground that plaintiff’s “expenditures of $305 for taxis to

27
28

Although entry #64 would qualify for full compensation, Hanski’s claimed time for this entry is 0.
The entries I so reduce are: 3-6, 17, 21-22, 24-26, 28-33, 43-44, 64, 77-91, 95-101, 103-105.

34

and from the January 27, 2012 hearing are outrageously excessive.” Kimso Opp. at 4. But it
was Kimso’s own conduct that necessitated the evidentiary hearing in this case. If Shah had not
cut Hanski out of the settlement negotiations, and had not sent Graham to induce Hugee to sign
false affirmations and letters to this court and the New York State Bar, the pitched factual
dispute that gave rise to the hearing would not have occurred. Moreover, Hugee, who lives on
Staten Island, is a disabled woman confined to a wheelchair. The court required her appearance
at the hearing in Brooklyn at 9:30 A.M. sharp. Transport for such a woman under these
conditions is limited, and taxi fare in a wheelchair-accessible van totaling roughly $150 each
way is not excessive. The defendant is reminded of the principle that it “cannot litigate
tenaciously and then be heard to complain about the time necessarily spent by the plaintiff in
response.” City of Riverside v. Rivera, 477 U.S. 561, 580 n.11 (1986) (internal quotation marks
omitted).
I find all of the costs enumerated by Hanski totaling $1,200 to be reasonable and
appropriately compensable.
CONCLUSION
In sum, Hugee is a prevailing party under New York City’s Human Rights Law,
and is entitled to a reasonable fee award. I award a total fee to Hugee of $22,880, which is
comprised of $21,080 for attorney hours, $600 for travel time and $1,200 for costs.
While this award is large for a litigation that seemingly barely got off the ground,
the size of the fee is directly traceable to Kimso’s – and, in particular, Shah’s – reprehensible
conduct with respect to this lawsuit. On Kimso’s behalf, Shah drafted a series of false
documents and used Hugee’s sister to induce Hugee to sign them without understanding them or
consulting with her attorney. After settling the lawsuit for $500 cash in Hanski’s absence,

35

Kimso thereafter refused to modify the settlement to stipulate to pay a “reasonable fee award to
be determined by the court,” as the court repeatedly recommended that the parties do. Instead,
Kimso has fiercely litigated every aspect of the settlement and fee award in a way that is directly
counter to its aim of avoiding paying damages or attorney fees altogether. Kimso’s outrageous
conduct in this case is directly responsible for the court’s extensive intervention in what is
otherwise a garden-variety housing discrimination case. Accordingly, I have carefully reviewed
all of Hanski’s billing records and conclude that the fee here awarded is reasonable and
appropriate, and “sufficient to induce a capable attorney to undertake the representation of a
meritorious civil rights case,” even against an adversary like Kimso. Perdue, 130 S. Ct. at 1672.
So ordered.

John Gleeson, U.S.D.J.

Dated: April 3, 2012
Brooklyn, New York

36