U.S. Magistrate Judge Grimm Had Earlier Ordered Imprisonment If Payment Ducked, But Defense Did Remit Partial Payment Of What Was Ordered.
In our September 21, 2010 post, we discussed Victor Stanley, Inc. v. Creative Pipe, Inc., 269 F.R.D. 497 (D. Md. 2010), in which U.S. Magistrate Judge Grimm determined that defendants repeatedly failed to comply with multiple court orders compelling the preservation and production of ESI in response to Plaintiff’s discovery requests. He ordered monetary sanctions, including costs and legal fees allocable to spoliation under penalty that an individual defendant be imprisoned for two years if not promptly paying the monetary sanctions.
Well, the final tally of the fee/costs spoliation sanctions is now in.
On January 24, 2011, Magistrate Judge Grimm, in Victor Stanley, Inc. v. Creative Pipe, Inc., Civil No. MJG-06-2662 (D. Md. Jan. 24, 2011, Doc. No. 448), decided defendants should pay $1,049,850.04 for fees and costs, which left $712,053.67 to be paid within 30 days because defendants had already remitted an earlier payment of $337,796.37.
In determining the lodestar, Magistrate Judge Grimm did not feel he was bound to the district court’s guidelines for determining attorneys’ fees in certain cases, labeling them "guidelines, not holy writ." He also credited the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s report of the economic survey showing the mean average billing for partners in the Washington, D.C. CMSA. (See Leviton Mfg. Co. v. Universal Sec. Instr., Inc., 613 F.Supp.2d 670, 732-733 (D. Md. 2008) [citing report], vacated on other grounds, 606 F.3d 1353 (Fed. Cir. 2010).) In most instances, he found it was not improper to have multiple attorneys at hearings and it was acceptable for attorneys to bill for conferences among themselves.
