THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
STRAFFORD, SS. SUPERIOR COURT
Jim Heighton d/b/a Sterling Consulting
v.
Town of Milton
No. 219-2012-cv-408
ORDER ON MOTION FOR ATTORNEY'S FEES
Plaintiff Jim Heighton requests attorney's fees following his partially successful petition for relief under the state Right to Know law (RSA 91-A). For the reasons that follow, I award him attorney's fees in the amount of $4,237.50.
Heighton claimed four violations of the statute and prevailed on two of them. Even though I said in the final order that Heighton proved only one of his claims, and that I would allow fees that pertained to the one violation, he notes correctly in his motion for attorney's fees that I actually found he proved two violations of the statute. See Request for Fees, ¶ 5, n. 1.
Counsel for Heighton charged $300 per hour for his time and the reasonableness of that hourly rate is not disputed. His total fee was $8,040.00, but Heighton contends there was overlap among the issues and that the incomplete result should cause a reduction of no more than approximately 25%, yielding him fees of $6,000.00. Based on my mistaken finding that Heighton was victorious on only one claim, the Town says the fee should be 25% of what was incurred through the final hearing. This calculation translates to fees totaling $1,140.00.
[2] I adopt the Town's formula in part. Since Heighton was successful in two of his four claims, the starting point is to award 50% of the fees incurred through the date of the final hearing, or $2280.00. See Schwartz v. Secretary of Health & Human Svcs., 73 F.3d 895, 904-05 (9th Cir. 1995) (awarding fees based on percentage of success). To this number I add fees for time spent drafting proposed findings and rulings, reviewing the final order, and preparing the request for attorney's fees. These additional fees total $1,957.50 and are calculated as follows:
| Date | Activity | Fee Charged | Fee Allowed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09/25/12 | Post-hearing work | $720.00 @ 50% = | $360.00 |
| 09/26/12 | Post-hearing work | $450.00 @ 50% = | $225.00 |
| 11/28/12 | Review of court order | $90.00 @ 50% = | $45.00 |
| Research on attorney's fees | $90.00 | $90.00 | |
| 11/29/12 | Conference with client; Analysis of fee award |
$450.00 @ 75%1 = | $337.50 |
| 12/05/12 | Email to client about attorney's fees |
$60.00 | $60.00 |
| 12/06/12 | Conf. with counsel for Town about fees |
$60.00 | $60.00 |
| 12/07-20/12 | Research on and preparation of fee request |
$1,110.00 | $780.002 |
| Total: | $1957.50 |
[3] CONCLUSION
The plaintiff is awarded his attorney's fees in the amount of $4,237.50.
SO ORDERED.
1 Reduced by 25% to account for client conference.
2 Excludes time spent on further communications with client and in drafting bill of costs.