Schoolcraft v. The City Of New York et al

Filing 617

LETTER addressed to Judge Robert W. Sweet from Joshua P. Fitch on behalf of all plaintiff's counsel dated April 26, 2016 re: Permission to file an oversized Reply Memorandum of Law. Document filed by Adrian Schoolcraft.(Fitch, Joshua)

COHEN & FITCH LLP
233 BROADWAY, SUITE 1800
NEW YORK, NY 10279
TEL: [phone]
FAX: [phone]

April 11, 2016
BY EMAIL & ECF
Honorable Robert W. Sweet
United States District Judge
Southern District of New York
500 Pearl Street
New York, New York 10007
RE:

Schoolcraft v. The City of New York,
10-cv-6005 (RWS) (DCF)

Dear Judge Sweet:
I am writing this letter on behalf of all of plaintiff’s counsel to request permission
to file an oversize Reply Memorandum of Law in Support of Plaintiff's Motion for
Attorney's Fees. Defense counsel has previously consented to this request.
As Your Honor is aware, on April 7, 2016, this Court granted defendants' request
to file an oversized brief in opposition to plaintiff’s fee application. In connection with
that request, defense counsel noted that plaintiffs’ counsels “are likely to request
permission to file an oversize Reply brief as a result.” Thereafter, defendants filed a
memorandum in opposition consisting of seventy three (73) pages of argument
challenging the various submissions of the Smith, Norinsberg and Gilbert team
respectively. This brief raised a multitude of allegations – both globally and separately
against each legal team – in opposition to plaintiffs’ counsels' fees, including but limited
to, challenges to their rates, their hours and their billing practices. In addition, this brief
relied substantially on the report of Judith Bronsther, which was itself 119 pages and had
almost 200 pages of exhibits attached. Like defendants' memorandum, her report also
alleged similar issues with the same subjects in connection with each individual legal
team.
To appropriately respond to these attacks and address the points made in both
defendants’ brief and Ms. Bronsther’s report, we request permission to file oversize
briefs. 1 Due to the sheer volume of defendants' submission ‒ nearly 400 pages in total ‒
1

Both the Smith, Norinsberg and Gilbert Team intend to make separate filings to address the specific
attacks mounted against each individual team but are working to together to eliminate any unnecessary
repetition in the filings.

plaintiff's counsel cannot adequately address the points raised therein given the current
page constraints, and if plaintiff’s counsel were not able to thoroughly respond to the
various contentions raised in defendants' opposition ‒ and Ms. Bronsther’s report ‒ they
would be substantially prejudiced.
Accordingly, it is respectfully requested that Your Honor grant plaintiff’s counsel
permission to file over size memoranda of law in order to sufficiently reply to defendants'
submissions. At the present time plaintiff’s counsel is still finalizing their submissions
and cannot give this Court an exact number of pages in connection with this request, but
in light of defendants' voluminous submissions, we would request that Your Honor allow
counsel to use their best judgment as to the amount of pages necessary to succinctly yet
adequately respond to defendants' opposition and their expert report.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,

_________/s________________
JOSHUA P. FITCH
GERALD M. COHEN
COHEN & FITCH LLP
233 Broadway, Suite 1800
New York, N.Y. 10279
[phone]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
NATHANIEL B. SMITH
100 Wall Street, 23rd Floor
New York, New York 10005
212-227-7062
[e-mail]
JON L. NORINSBERG
225 Broadway, Suite 2700
New York, New York 10007
[phone]
[e-mail]
JOHN LENOIR
100 Wall Street, 23rd Floor
New York, New York 10005
212-335-0250

[e-mail]
CC VIA ECF:
Alan Scheiner
Assistant Corporation Counsel
New York City Law Department
100 Church Street
New York, New York 10007