Is there a New Cap on Recoverable Attorney Rates in EDVA?

There is yet further disagreement among the judges of the Eastern District regarding reasonable attorney hourly rates.  As we noted in a previous EDVA Update here, this disagreement is manifesting itself most frequently in the Alexandria Division, as judges there confront (and push back against) the higher hourly rates frequently charged by larger law firms in the Northern Virginia/ DC metro area.

Today’s example of the disagreement comes in the recent case of Integrated Direct Marketing, LLC v. Drew May, et al., 1:14-cv-1183, 2016 WL 3582065 (E.D. Va. June 28, 2016).  In this case, Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the Alexandria Division of the Eastern District invited a plaintiff to file a motions for sanctions and attorney’s fees after successfully demonstrating that the defendant made materially false statements in both an affidavit and during courtroom testimony.  But after the plaintiff petitioned for over $63,000 in attorney’s fees, Judge Brinkema strongly criticized the hourly rates and record keeping of plaintiff’s counsel, and she cut the fee award down to only $17,000.

To justify their hourly rates, plaintiff (represented by attorneys from both the DC and Connecticut offices of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, PC) relied upon the matrix of hourly rates approved by Judge Gerald Bruce Lee in Vienna Metro (discussed in a prior EDVA Update here).  But Judge Brinkema rejected the Vienna Metro matrix.  By doing so, she sided with Judge T.S. Ellis’s opinion in Route Triple Seven (also discussed in a prior EDVA Update here) in the ongoing dispute regarding hourly attorney rates.  Below is a summary of the experience levels of each attorney, the hourly rates sought by the plaintiff, and the rates awarded by Judge Brinkema:

Attorney’s Legal Experience Requested Hourly Rate Awarded Hourly Rate
30 years $ 545 $ 450
9 years $ 395 $ 350
6 years $ 335 $ 275
5 years $ 320 $ 250

To set these hourly rates, the court followed the rates determined by Judge Ellis in Route Triple Seven.  Significantly, Judge Brinkema did not rely upon any other expert witness testimony or evidence to set these hourly rates.  (And, as we saw in the Route Triple Seven case, there the court relied upon its own “experience” to determine an appropriate reasonable rate.)  These hourly rates are in sharp contrast to the $550 – $600 hourly rates approved by Judge Lee in Vienna Metro.

It is clear that a revolt against high hourly rates (or, at least, rates perceived as high) is brewing among many judges of the Alexandria Division of the Eastern District.  It also appears that a hard cap of approximately $450 – $500 for an experienced attorney’s hourly rate is forming, at least in the eyes of several judges who have rejected the Vienna Metro matrix.