Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-5_06-cv-04812/USCOURTS-cand-5_06-cv-04812-42/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 820
Nature of Suit: Copyright
Cause of Action: 17:501 Copyright Infringement

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Case No. 5:06-cv-04812-PSG

ORDER GRANTING-IN-PART MOTION FOR FEES

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United States District Court

Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

VICTORIA RYAN,

Plaintiff,

v.

EDITIONS LIMITED WEST, INC., et al.,

Defendants.

Case No. 5:06-cv-04812-PSG

ORDER GRANTING-IN-PART

MOTION FOR FEES

(Re: Docket No. 276)

Having traveled to the Ninth Circuit and back multiple times, Plaintiff Victoria Ryan once 

again seeks attorney’s fees and Defendants Editions Limited West, Inc. et al. oppose.

1

 Ryan’s 

motion is GRANTED-IN-PART, and no later than February 2, 2016, ELW shall remit payment to 

her in the total amount of $349,083.00.

I.

Ryan is an artist, and ELW publishes art posters.2 Several years ago, Ryan signed a 

licensing agreement with ELW to publish two of her paintings as posters.3 This agreement had a 

fee-shifting clause, which provided that “[i]n the event that litigation is instituted with regard to 

this Agreement, the prevailing party shall be entitled to its costs of the suit, including reasonable 

attorney’s fees.”4 

 

1

See Docket Nos. 276, 279. 

2

See Docket No. 268 at 4.

3

See Docket No. 1 at Ex. A.

4

See id. at Ex. A ¶ 12.

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After their partnership soured, Ryan sued ELW for copyright infringement, unfair 

competition, breach of contract and slander of title.5 The court granted ELW summary judgment 

on each claim and limited damages for copyright infringement to $1.72.

6

 Addressing two separate 

appeals by Ryan, the Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment on all claims except copyright 

infringement, on which it determined that Ryan had raised a triable issue.7 It also held that if the 

district court found “ELW liable for contributory or vicarious copyright infringement, it should 

consider whether Ryan is the prevailing party under the broad language of the contract, and 

whether she is entitled to a permanent injunction against ELW.”8

Following remand and a bench trial, the court found in favor of Ryan on the contributory 

copyright infringement claim and in favor of ELW on the vicarious copyright infringement claim.9 

The court found that Ryan provided no evidence to substantiate a claim for damages or ELW’s 

profits from infringement,

10 but Ryan did secure a permanent injunction. Following the Ninth 

Circuit’s directive, the court further concluded that under the licensing agreement’s fee-shifting 

clause, Ryan was entitled to reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred in prosecuting only the 

claim she had prevailed on, for contributory copyright infringement.11

Ryan requested $425,439.72 in attorney’s fees, costs and interest.12 The court instructed 

Ryan to provide a declaration setting forth the fees incurred in prosecuting the contributory 

 

5

See Docket No. 1.

6

See Docket No. 105 at 21; Docket No. 142.

7

See Docket No. 180 at 3.

8

Id. at 6.

9

See Docket No. 234.

10 See id. at 7, 13.

11 See id. at 16.

12 See Docket No. 235; Docket no. 242 at 11.

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copyright infringement claim that she prevailed on, but she did not.13 The court accordingly 

excluded the following fees and costs as either moot in light of prior rulings or insufficiently 

detailed to show that they were specifically related to litigating the contributory copyright 

infringement claim:

 fees and costs related to Ryan’s pre-lawsuit cease and desist efforts ($7,267.31); 

 fees and costs related to Ryan’s defense of ELW’s defamation counterclaim ($82,061.32);

 fees and costs relating to Ryan’s first appeal, which resulted in a reversal of summary 

judgment on the copyright claims ($67,357.74);

 fees and costs relating to Ryan’s second appeal, which reversed finding ELW the 

prevailing party under the licensing agreement ($11,567.98).

14

This left $256,819.07 in fees relating to pre-trial and trial litigation of all the issues in dispute, 

which the court reduced as follows:

 75% reduction because Ryan prevailed on only one of her four claims;

 20% reduction because Ryan block-billed and improperly claimed interest before the fee 

amounts were certain and vested.15

The court made these reductions because Ryan “failed to follow the court’s instruction or 

otherwise to provide sufficient guidance to determine reasonable attorney’s fees and costs related 

to the prosecution of the contributory copyright infringement claim,” such that “the court [was] 

left to its own devices to fashion an appropriate award.”16 The final award was $51,363.81 in 

attorney’s fees and $7,989.94 in costs.17

 

13 See Docket No. 242 at 9.

14 See id.

15 See id. at 10.

16 Id.

17 See id. at 10-11.

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The parties then cross-appealed once more to the Ninth Circuit, which held in relevant part 

that Ryan was entitled to attorney’s fees under the licensing agreement18 but that this court had 

improperly reduced Ryan’s requested fees.19 The Ninth Circuit held that the court had erred in 

excluding fees relating to Ryan’s pre-litigation cease and desist efforts and fees relating to Ryan’s 

first appeal, as this work was “plainly related to the eventual prosecution of her infringement 

claim.”

20

 The Ninth Circuit directed the court to “consider the interrelated nature of the claims” in 

Ryan’s case and “provide more detailed explanation” for any reductions if the court decided to 

reduce the requested fees “to comport with Ryan’s limited success” on remand.21 The Ninth 

Circuit declined to provide any “precise formula or methodology” for determining which hours 

were “clearly unrelated” to the copyright infringement claim or excessive.22

The Ninth Circuit also held that the 75% reduction was error, because “[p]ro rata 

apportionment is particularly ineffective . . . where the various claims asserted involve a common 

set of facts and issues.”23 On remand, the court must use “an adequate [reduction] method” that 

balances Ryan’s prevailing party status with her “limited success in the litigation as a whole.”24

Finally, the Ninth Circuit held that the 20% reduction for block-billing was error, because 

the court did not explain how it selected the 20% rate, and not all entries were block-billed.25 On 

remand, the court may reduce fees for block billing and improperly claimed interest, but must 

 

18 See Docket No. 268 at 8-14

19 See id. at 8-21.

20 Id. at 18.

21 Id. at 19.

22 Id.

23 Id.

24 Id. at 20.

25 See id.

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explain how the reduction balances the hours that were block-billed and how it determined the 

percent reduction to apply.26

Ryan now requests a total fee award of $1,048,444.13.27 She calculates this amount as 

follows: ($335,170.00 total principal + $189,052.07 interest) x 2.0 fee enhancement multiplier.28 

II.

This court has subject matter jurisdiction and supplemental jurisdiction pursuant to 28 

U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1338 and 1367. The parties further consented to the jurisdiction of the 

undersigned magistrate judge under 28 U.S.C. § 636(c) and Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(a).29

“Plaintiffs may be considered ‘prevailing parties’ for attorney’s fees purposes if they 

succeed on any significant issue in litigation which achieves some of the benefit the parties sought 

in bringing suit.”30 The court must then determine what attorney’s fee is “reasonable.”31

In determining what is a reasonable fee, the court first “establishes a lodestar by 

multiplying the number of hours reasonably expended on the litigation by a reasonable hourly 

rate.”32 The resulting figure is presumptively reasonable.33 The party seeking fees bears the 

burden of documenting the hours expended in the litigation and must submit evidence supporting 

the hours and rates claimed.

34

 In determining the appropriate lodestar, the court may exclude 

 

26 See id. at 21.

27 See Docket No. 276 at 2.

28 See id.

29 See Docket Nos. 5, 23.

30 Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. at 433 (quoting Nadeau v. Helgemoe, 581 F.2d 275, 278-79 (1st 

Cir. 1978).

31 Hensley, 461 U.S. at 433

32 Welch v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., 480 F.3d 942, 945 (2007).

33 See Hensley, 461 U.S. at 434.

34 See Hensley, 461 U.S. at 433.

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hours that are “excessive, redundant, or otherwise unnecessary.”35 The court must also determine 

a reasonable hourly rate, considering “certain factors, including the novelty and difficulty of the 

issues, the skill required to try the case, whether or not the fee is contingent, [and] the experience 

held by counsel and fee awards in similar cases.”36 When determining the rate, the court may also 

consider whether there has been a delay in payment.37 “District courts have the discretion to 

compensate plaintiff’s attorneys for a delay in payment by either applying the attorneys’ current 

rates to all hours billed during the course of the litigation or using the attorney’s historical rates 

and adding a prime rate enhancement.”38

The court may then adjust the lodestar to account for block billing39 or to reflect a party’s 

limited degree of success.

40

 In particular, where a plaintiff is deemed “prevailing” even though 

she succeeded on only some of her claims for relief, the court must consider (1) whether the 

plaintiff failed to prevail on claims that were unrelated to the claims on which she succeeded and 

(2) whether the plaintiff achieved a level of success that makes the hours reasonably expended a 

satisfactory basis for the fee award.41 As to the second prong, “a district court ‘should focus on 

the significance of the overall relief obtained by the plaintiff in relation to the hours reasonably 

expended on the litigation.’”42

 

35 Id. at 434.

36 Moreno v. City of Sacramento, 534 F.3d 1106, 1114 (9th Cir. 2008).

37 See id. at 947.

38 Id.

39 See Welch v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., 480 F.3d 942, 948 (9th Cir. 2007).

40 See Hensley, 461 U.S. at 436-37.

41 See Hensley, 461 U.S. at 434.

42 Id. at 436 (explaining that “[i]f the plaintiff has achieved only partial or limited success, the 

product of hours reasonably expended on the litigation times a reasonable hourly rate may be 

[excessive] . . . even where the plaintiff’s claims were interrelated, nonfrivolous, and raised in 

good faith”). 

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Finally, California law offers the court discretion to adjust the lodestar to “include a fee 

enhancement for the purpose, e.g., of compensating the attorney who agreed to undertake such 

representation at the risk of nonpayment or delayed payment, in an amount approaching the 

market rate for comparable legal services.”43 The court is “not required to include a fee 

enhancement . . . for contingent risk, exceptional skill, or other factors,” however, and the burden 

of proof is on the party seeking the enhancement.44 The court should consider whether the 

attorney has been able to mitigate the risk of nonpayment and the degree to which the relevant 

market rate compensates for contingency risk, extraordinary skill, or other factors.45 The court 

should “not consider these factors to the extent they are already encompassed within the lodestar. . 

. . Otherwise, the fee award will result in unfair double counting and be unreasonable.”46

III.

Applying the above standards, Ryan’s motion for fees is GRANTED-IN-PART.

First, the court must determine the reasonable hours for the lodestar calculation. 

According to billing records from Ryan’s counsel, Mr. Richard De Liberty, he spent 1,166.70 

hours on this case,47 plus 8.5 hours on his earlier fee declaration48 and 22.2 hours on this motion 

and other work incurred after filing a fee motion with the Ninth Circuit.49 Of the 1,166.70 hours, 

200.02 were incurred in connection with the anti-SLAPP motion,50 and the court already 

 

43 Ketchum v. Moses, 24 Cal. 4th 1122, 1136 (2001).

44 Id. at 1138 (emphasis original).

45 See id.

46 Id. at 1138-39.

47 See Docket No. 276-2 at 16.

48 See Docket No. 276-1 at ¶ 10.

49 See id. at ¶ 12.

50 The court applied the following equation to each time entry that listed fees for “Anti-SLAPP 

Motion” and took the sum of the results to calculate the total hours spent on the anti-SLAPP 

motion: Anti-SLAPP Motion fees / Total fees * Hrs = hours spent on anti-SLAPP Motion. See

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addressed the fees for those hours in a previous order.

51

 De Liberty also claims 20.0 hours that he 

“anticipate[s] incurring” in responding to ELW’s motion for a stay and filing the reply brief for 

this fee motion.52 The court finds that fees are recoverable for the 1,166.70 hours, the 8.5 hours

and the 22.2 hours, minus the 200.02 hours, for a total of 997.38 hours. These hours were 

reasonably expended in the litigation and Ryan submitted evidence, namely De Liberty’s historical 

billing records, to support the hours claimed. The 20.0 hours are not recoverable, however, 

because they are not supported by billing records and are merely an estimate of time that may be 

incurred. If Ryan wishes to recover fees for these hours, she must file a supplemental declaration

with evidence of the hours actually incurred.

ELW argues that the court should limit Ryan’s attorney’s fees to only the fees that were 

incurred in connection with the contributory copyright infringement claim that she prevailed on.53 

In ELW’s view, the hours spent on the breach of contract, slander of title and anti-SLAPP claims 

were unrelated and should be stricken. However, the Ninth Circuit specifically admonished this 

court to eliminate only hours that are “clearly unrelated” to the contributory copyright 

infringement claim,54 and after examining the billing records, the court is unable to identify any 

billing entry that meets this exacting standard. As discussed in the court’s previous order on fees, 

while Ryan failed to provide either a declaration or billing records “setting forth the particular 

attorney’s fees incurred in prosecuting the claim for contributory copyright infringement,”

55 ELW 

also failed to object to any specific billing entries or identify a method for reducing the hours that 

 

Docket No. 276-2.

51 See Docket No. 193 at 7-9.

52 Id. at ¶ 13.

53 See Docket No. 297 at 7-8.

54 See Docket No. 268 at 19.

55 Docket No. 242 at 9.

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would be consistent with the Ninth Circuit’s order.56 This leaves the court with no choice but to 

follow the Ninth Circuit’s other admonition in its previous order to “[b]y and large . . . defer to the 

winning lawyer’s professional judgment as to how much time he was required to spend on the 

case.”

57

Second, the court must determine the reasonable hourly rate for the lodestar. An important 

factor in this case is the delay that Ryan experienced in receiving payment. The court finds that 

the appropriate method for compensating Ryan for the delay is to apply De Liberty’s current rate 

of $350 to the 997.38 hours reasonably billed in this litigation.58 In his solo practice, De Liberty 

currently bills $350 per hour.59 He also works with a San Francisco law firm, which bills $450 per 

hour for De Liberty’s work.60 De Liberty represents Ryan in this case as part of his solo practice, 

and so his solo rate is appropriate. In fact, this is the rate he used in calculating fees for his most 

recent work in this case.

61

 A reasonable hourly rate of $350/hr x 997.38 hours results in a lodestar 

of $349,083.00.

Ryan argues that rather than De Liberty’s current billing rate, the court should use “an 

actual interest calculation,”

62 citing Theme Promotions, Inc. v. News America Mktg. FSI, Inc.,63 on 

the order of 10%.

64

 But the court in Theme Promotions enhanced the attorney’s hourly rate by the 

 

56 See Docket No. 279 at 4-8.

57 Moreno, 534 F.3d at 1112.

58 See Docket No. 276-1 at ¶ 12.

59 See id.

60 See id.

61 See Docket No. 276-4.

62 See Docket No. 276 at 2-3.

63 731 F. Supp. 2d 937, 949 (N.D. Cal. 2010).

64 See Docket No. 282 at 5.

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U.S. prime rate interest factor, compounded on an annual basis,

65

 not any old number plucked at 

random from the sky. During the lifetime of Ryan’s case, the monthly U.S. prime rate ranged 

from 3.25% to 8.25%; on the day that judgment entered, it was 3.25%.66 It certainly was never 

10%.67 While Ninth Circuit precedent permits the discretionary use of the prime rate to 

compensate for delays in payment, it does not allow for arbitrarily selected interest rates.68

Moreover, Ryan fails to explain how she selected the 10% interest rate; how this court 

should determine the correct prime rate to use in a prime rate enhancement calculation; or from 

what date the enhancement should be applied. All this militates against the use of the prime rate 

enhancement method of compensating for delay in payment. Although the prime rate may “more 

accurately account[] for the time value of money over a long period of delay,”69 the Ninth Circuit 

has held that the choice between using the current hourly rate or the prime rate enhancement is 

within the district court’s discretion.70

Third, the court declines to adjust the lodestar. ELW argues that under Hensley, the court 

must consider Ryan’s limited success and reduce her fees accordingly. The court acknowledges 

that Ryan succeeded to a limited degree; although she won a permanent injunction, she suffered 

summary judgment on three of her four claims. It is difficult to say that this is a level of success 

that makes the hours reasonably expended a satisfactory basis for the fee award. However, ELW 

 

65 See Theme Promotions, 731 F. Supp. 2d at 951, App. Table H.

66 See Historical Data: Bank Prime Loan: Monthly, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 

System, available at

http://www.federalreserve.gov/datadownload/Output.aspx?rel=H15&series=6fa2b8138e0eafe0ad6

cde24ba2307f5&lastObs=&from=&to=&filetype=csv&label=include&layout=seriescolumn (last 

updated Dec. 2015).

67 The U.S. prime rate last reached 10% in December 1990, see id.

68 See Welch, 480 F.3d at 947.

69 Theme Promotions, 731 F. Supp. 2d at 951.

70 See Welch, 480 F.3d at 947.

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suggests no method for reducing the lodestar that would be consistent with the Ninth Circuit’s 

mandate in this case, given the interrelated nature of Ryan’s claims.

Fourth, the court declines to apply the “modest” 2x fee multiplier Ryan requests.71

Ketchum authorized multipliers specifically in anti-SLAPP cases taken on contingency “to bring 

the financial incentives for attorneys enforcing important constitutional rights, such as those 

protected under the anti-SLAPP provision, into line with incentives they have to undertake claims 

for which they are paid on a fee-for-services basis.”

72

 There is no basis for a multiplier here: Ryan

already received fees for her anti-SLAPP motion,

73 and her case does not involve enforcement of 

constitutional rights.

Furthermore, the use of a fee multiplier is discretionary rather than mandatory, and Ryan 

fails to satisfy the burden of proof, which rests on her.74 She argues that the multiplier is 

necessary to compensate De Liberty for the risk he ran of nonpayment in this contingency case.75 

Under Ketchum, however, that is only one factor in the court’s consideration, and the court finds 

that the reasonable hourly rate it applied already compensates De Liberty for his risk of 

nonpayment. Using a multiplier thus would result in unfair double compensation. Notably, Ryan 

did not request a multiplier in either her motion for anti-SLAPP fees76 or her last fee request;

77 that 

the case was on contingency apparently did not justify a multiplier then, and Ryan fails to explain 

to the court what changed circumstances warrant a multiplier now.

 

71 Docket No. 276 at 3.

72 Ketchum, 24 Cal. 4th at 1132.

73 See Docket No. 193 at 7-9.

74 Ketchum, 24 Cal. 4th at 1138.

75 See Docket No. 276 at 3. 

76 See Docket No. 185.

77 See Docket No. 235.

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SO ORDERED.

Dated: January 19, 2016

_________________________________

PAUL S. GREWAL

United States Magistrate Judge

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