Schoolcraft v. The City Of New York et al
Filing
560
DECLARATION of Joshua P. Fitch (Master Declaration) in Support re: 559 MOTION for Attorney Fees , Costs and Disbursements.. Document filed by Adrian Schoolcraft. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A - Declaration of Jon L. Norinsberg, Esq., # 2 Exhibit B - Declaration of Nathaniel Smith, Esq., # 3 Exhibit C - Declaration of Joshua P. Fitch, Esq., # 4 Exhibit D - Declaration of Gerald M. Cohen, Esq., # 5 Exhibit E - Declaration of John Lenoir, Esq., # 6 Exhibit F - Declaration of Howard A. Suckle, Esq., # 7 Exhibit G - Declaration of Magdalena Bauza, # 8 Exhibit H - Billing Entries and Costs for Jon L. Norinsberg, Esq., # 9 Exhibit I - Billing Entries and Costs for Nathaniel Smith, Esq., # 10 Exhibit J - Billing Entries for Joshua P. Fitch, Esq., # 11 Exhibit K - Billing Entries and Costs for Gerald M. Cohen, Esq., # 12 Exhibit L - Billing Entries for John Lenoir, Esq., # 13 Exhibit M - Billing Entries for Howard A. Suckle, Esq., # 14 Exhibit N - Billing Entries for Magdalena Bauza, # 15 Exhibit O - Declaration of Jonathan Abady, Esq. in support of the hourly rate of Jon L. Norinsberg, Esq., # 16 Exhibit P - Declaration of Christopher Galiardo, Esq. in support of the hourly rate of Jon L. Norinsberg, Esq., # 17 Exhibit Q - Declaration of Afsaan Saleem, Esq. in support of the hourly rate of Jon L. Norinsberg, Esq., # 18 Exhibit R - Declaration of Michael L. Spiegel, Esq. in support of the hourly rate of Nathaniel Smith, Esq., # 19 Exhibit S - Declaration of Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma, Esq. in support of the hourly rate of Joshua P. Fitch, Esq. and Gerald M. Cohen, Esq., partners of Cohen & Fitch LLP, # 20 Exhibit T - Declaration of Irving Cohen, Esq. in support of the hourly rate of Joshua P. Fitch, Esq. and Gerald M. Cohen, Esq., partners of Cohen & Fitch LLP, # 21 Exhibit U - Declaration of Katherine Smith, Esq. in support of the hourly rate of Joshua P. Fitch, Esq. and Gerald M. Cohen, Esq., partners of Cohen & Fitch LLP, # 22 Exhibit V - Declaration of Hugh M. Mo, Esq. in support of the hourly rate of John Lenoir, Esq., # 23 Exhibit W - Declaration of Jeffrey Schlanger, Esq. in support of the hourly rate of John Lenoir, Esq., # 24 Exhibit X - Declaration of David Finkler, Esq. in support of the hourly rate of Howard A. Suckle, Esq., # 25 Exhibit Y - Declaration of Mitchell Bloch, Esq. in support of the hourly rate of Howard A. Suckle, Esq., # 26 Exhibit Z - 2013-2014 National Law Journal Billing Survey of Large Firm Billing Rates, # 27 Exhibit AA - 2013-2014 New York City Law Department Year in Review for the Special Federal Litigation Division, # 28 Exhibit BB - New York City Law Department Special Federal Litigation Homepage, # 29 Exhibit CC - Verdict Search's Top Verdicts of 2013, # 30 Exhibit DD - Super Lawyers 2015 Annual List of Top Lawyers in the New York Metro Area, # 31 Exhibit EE - Order in Bernabe v. City of New York, 13 CV 5531 (LGS) relating to Mr. Norinsberg's hourly rate)(Fitch, Joshua)
EXHIBIT
“F”
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN
DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
---------------------------------------------------------------x
ADRIAN SCHOOLCRAFT,
10-cv-6005 (RWS)
Plaintiff,
-against-
DECLARATION
OF HOWARD A. SUCKLE
THE CITY OF NEW YORK, et al,
Defendants.
--------------------------------------------------------------x
DECLARATION OF HOWARD A. SUCKLE PURSUANT TO 28
U.S.C. § 1746 UNDER THE PENALTY OF PERJURY
Howard A. Suckle, being an attorney, hereby declares under the laws of the United States of
America that the following is true and correct:
1.
I am an attorney duly admitted to practice law in the States of New York and New Jersey.
I was admitted to practice in New York in January of 1987 and in New Jersey in June of 1987.
2.
I was admitted to the Bar of the United States District Court for: The Southern District of
New York in March of 1987; The Eastern District of New York in April of 1987; and The District of
New Jersey in June of 1987. I have, in the past, been admitted pro hac vice in the States of Florida and
California. Since 2002, I have been a Member of Suckle Schlesinger PLLC with offices at 224 West 35th
Street, Suite 1200, New York, New York and a second office in New Jersey. Prior to that, I was the only
Member of the Law Office of Howard A. Suckle from November 1998-March 2002; and a Partner at
Silk, Bunks and Suckle PC from September 1989-October 1998. I started my career in law as an
Associate at Silk and Bunks PC from September 1986-August 1989. I have been an instructor of Civil
Procedure at Saint Thomas Aquinas College in Orangeburg, New York. I obtained my Juris Doctor at
The University of Buffalo, School of Law, in 1986.
3.
From the beginning of my practice of law, I have practiced nearly exclusively as a trial
lawyer. I started out litigating criminal defense, and false arrest and false imprisonment cases. I have
litigated numerous Civil Rights actions, all on the plaintiff’s side. In fact, my very first trial was in 1989,
and it was an action originating under 42 U.S.C. 1983, entitled: Pitt v The City of New York. Thereafter,
I tried and won the wrongful conviction action of Johnson v. State, in the Court of Claims of the State of
New York. In addition, I have litigated in the area of employment, age, and sex discriminations in
matters such as: Silk v. New York Medical College and Marte v. Nine West Holdings, Inc., and in the
areas of First Amendment and Defamation in the matters of Lutwin v. Montauk; Ferguson, et al. v.
Sherman Square Realty Corp., et al.; and Sokol v. Daycock, et al. In addition to all of the above, I have
litigated over 150 matters in the areas of Medical Malpractice, Product Liability, Labor Law, Petroleum
Spills, New York CPLR Article 78, Shareholder Derivative, and Personal Injury actions, as well as,
several dozen varying types of commercial matters.
4.
When not litigating on a contingent fee, my hourly rate is $575.00 per hour for all
matters.
5.
On July 31, 2013, I was retained by Nathanial Smith, Esq., on behalf of Adrian
Schoolcraft, to lend my broad background of experience to his litigation team for the myriad of
overlapping issues and pleaded causes of action in the instant matter.
6.
As can be seen from the enclosed contemporaneously kept time records, from July 31,
2013 until March 13, 2015 I worked 108.9 hours on behalf of Mr. Schoolcraft. (See attached hereto as
exhibit M) The work I performed is stated in the time records. I made and kept my own time records and
the records were prepared by me at the time or on the day the work was performed. At my usual and
customary rate of $575.00 per hour, the total fees that I have earned and that I am due under the terms of
the settlement agreement with the City of New York is $62,617.50. The same is more than fair and
2
reasonable in the light of the work performed, the defense put forth, and the result achieved. It should be
noted that defendants in this action that I was in part brought into this matter for my broad experience.
7.
The Court should note that the declaration of Michael Spiegel, Esq. is being submitted on
behalf of Nathanial Smith, Esq. as part of the joint fee application of the attorneys for Mr. Schoolcraft.
(Exhibit R) In his declaration, Mr. Spiegel states: “I am personally familiar with the hourly rates
charged by my colleagues who primarily litigate civil rights claims. For experienced practitioners
with 25 or more years of experience, their rates range from $500 to $700 per hour, with most
clustering around $ 625 to $650 per hour.
8.
In addition, Mr. Smith attaches as part of his application as Exhibit 3, a recent New York
Law Journal survey of hourly rates charges by the large firms in Manhattan. That survey shows that
partners in large law firms in New York command rates in the range of $800 to $1,000 per hour. Judge
McMahon recently noted that this survey is commonly used by Southern District Courts in assessing
prevailing rates in this District. Fleisher v. Phoenix Life Ins, 2015 U.S. Dist. Lexis 121574 at 62-63 n. 15
(S.D.N.Y. Sept. 9, 2015).
9.
For the purposes of this application, I adopt the declarations of Misters Smith, and
Spiegel in support of this application to the extent that they are supportive hereof. As stated above, in my
twenty-eight (28) years of practicing law, I have extensively litigated in the areas of Employment Law
and Civil Rights, and I also brought to the Plaintiff a broad base of experience to the many overlapping
legal issues at bar. The hourly rate I charge all hourly clients is at the low end of the experienced bar as
detailed by Mr. Spiegel in his declarations.
10.
Further, herewith is the declaration of Mitchel Bloch, Esq. (See attached hereto as exhibit
Y) Mr. Bloch and I met nearly twenty-five (25) years ago as adversaries in a product liability action.
Thereafter, he sought me out and retained me to work on several matters on his behalf, and, at times, as
3
an attorney working jointly with him, and even as his own personal attorney in two litigation matters.
Mr. Bloch further details his knowledge of my skills and experience in his declaration.
11.
In addition, herewith is the declaration of David Finkler, Esq. (See attached hereto as
exhibit X) I am personally acquainted with Mr. Finkler and he has been familiar with my work for more
than two decades. Mr. Finkler and I have worked together representing different plaintiffs in a multiplaintiff commercial litigation in the City of New York and Mr. Finkler has also referred to me numerous
cases over the years. Mr. Finkler further details his knowledge of my skills and experience in his
declaration.
Dated:
New York, New York
November 18, 2015
Howard A. Suckle
___________________
Howard A. Suckle
4