Based on the above described reductions and adjustments, defendants are entitled to
$261,529.00 in attorney’s fees. 3

B. —_Non-Taxable Costs ~

In addition to attorney’s fees, defendants also request $71,168.59 in non-taxable costs.
These costs include charges for duplication of documents, computer-based legal research,
telephone, facsimile, and mail charges, word processing charges, court filing fees, travel expenses
(including transportation, parking, food, and lodging), and costs for an outside vendor to
compile, search, and produce 50,000 e-mails. Plaintiff argues these costs are unreasonable and
improper.

It should be noted that the Court has previously granted defendants’ bill of costs filed
pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(d), awarding defendants $3,746.22 for costs associated with filing
fees, deposition transcripts, and exemplification and copies of papers. See January 31, 2003
Order. The Court rejected defendants’ request for travel expenses and fees for defendants’
outside vendor that complied and produce defendants’ e-mails as these costs were not specified as
recoverable costs in 28 U.S.C. § 1920. It appears that defendants present fee petition once again
asks to be reimbursed for the very same costs the Court dealt with in its bill of costs. For the
reasons stated below, the Court denies defendants’ request for non-taxable costs.

The Supreme Court has held that a court may not shift costs beyond those found in
section 1920 without express statutory authorization to do so. Crawford Fitting Co. v. J.T.
Gibbons, Inc., 482 U.S. 437, 444-45 (1987); West Virginia Univ. Hospitals., Inc. v. Casey, 499 US.

83 (1991). Although section 1132(g)(1) of ERISA authorizes a court to shift costs, it does not

5This figure is based on a 47% reduction in defendants’ hours.

13



he remedied this offense as early as May 15, 2001 when he apprized defendants’ general counsel,
Laurie Seegers, of the relevant Change of Control event under which he was proceeding.
Plaintiff therefore believes that defendants should not recoup fees for work performed after he
revealed the necessary facts to substantiate his claims.

Plaintiffs argument is unconvincing and contrary to the Court’s Jan. 24" Order. The
Court found that plaintiff's entire lawsuit was brought in bad faith and that the harm wrought by
plaintiff's baseless complaint continued well into the litigation. See Jan. 24" Order at 4-5. The
Court's fee award was based on the fact that plaintiff's ultimate legal position — not just his initial
offending pleadings ~ was not substantially justified. Accordingly, defendants are entitled to fees
incurred throughout the litigation.

a. Number of Hours

Plaintiff argues that even a “cursory” review of defendants’ submissions reveal “numerous
questionable entries and expenditures.” Plaintiff then offers a number of general objections that
purport to “raise serious concerns about the validity of Defendants’ Petition.” Plaintiff takes issue
with entries relating to: 1) time spent drafting status reports and estimates of attorneys’ fees and
costs; 2) time spent addressing insurance coverage issues for the client; 3) time spent negotiating
with outside vendors; 4) time spent on compensation questions; 5) costs associated with travel
time to Chicago; 6) time spent by Winston and Strawn in excess of their role as local counsel;
and 7) time spent after the Court’s September 2001 decision. Plaintiff does not direct the Court
to any objectionable time entries or dates. Plaintiff also fails to substantiate his objections with
citations to any relevant authority. Defendants’ response to plaintiffs objections is similarly
inadequate and for the most part fails to specifically respond to plaintiff's challenges. Despite

4


necessary to the ultimate resolution of the case. Rather, the Court based its ruling for defendants
on plaintiff's total inability to articulate a Change in Control event under the Plan. The Court's
rejection of or failure to reach the exhaustion defense is not a sufficient reason for reducing a fee.
Hensley, 461 U.S. at 435. Additionally, the Court’s statements in the Jan. 24" Order
unambiguously reveal the Court’s conclusions regarding plaintiffs failure to exhaust his
administrative remedies. The Court found that plaintiff “made no real attempt to exhaust the
internal remedies set forth in the plan,” and that plaintiff “blatantly ignored” the requirement to
submit a written application for benefits before filing suit. Jan. 24 Order at 3. Accordingly,
plaintiffs claim that he prevailed on the exhaustion issue is wholly untenable and even somewhat
remarkable. As plaintiff has not pointed the Court towards any other ground upon which
defendants did not prevail, the Court has no reason to reduce defendants’ award to reflect a less
than complete level of success in this litigation.
3. Other Reductions

Although plaintiff has not raised any further objections to defendants’ submissions,
the Court must nevertheless conduct its own review of the petition with a view towards
eliminating those hours that are “excessive, duplicative or unnecessary.” Hensley, 461 U.S. at
434. The most troubling aspect of Morgan Lewis’s submissions is the description of the work
performed by Morgan Lewis's highest-priced attorney, Mr. Banks. The vast majority of Mr.
Banks’s time entries vaguely describe telephone conferences, internal meetings, and preparation
of various e-mails and reports. Very few entries describe substantive legal work specifically
directed towards advancing defendants’ position in the litigation. Mr. Banks’s contributions are
not at all evident from the descriptions provided in defendants’ petition and the Court cannot

9


importance that plaintiffs non-ERISA claims were to the overall litigation.

Plaintiff's fifth objection regards costs associated with defendants’ selection of an out-of-
town law firm, including travel time to and from Chicago. In response, defendants offer evidence
that Morgan Lewis has a national labor and employment law and benefits practice and frequently
represents clients in locations in which it does not have an office. Under these circumstances, it
was not unreasonable for defendants to engage an out-of-town law firm for assistance with an
Illinois suit. Berthold Types Ltd. v. Adobe Systems, Inc., 186 F.Supp. 2d 834, 839 (N.D. Ill. 2003).
It is also well established that attorney travel time and expenses are compensable. Maurice v.
Kozel, 69 F.3d 830 (7" Cir. 1995). Therefore, plaintiffs fifth objection is without merit.

Plaintiff's sixth objection is that Winston & Strawn’s participation should have been
limited to ministerial duties and that any time spent beyond those duties was a result of
unnecessary and redundant efforts. Plaintiff offers no evidence to support his challenge and
ignores Mr. Sessions’s affidavit which explains Winston & Strawn’s substantial contributions.
Plaintiff's mere allegations of redundancy are insufficient to overcome defendants’ evidence of
reasonableness. See Olander v. Bucyrus-Erie Co., 187 F.3d 599, 608 (7° Cir. 1999) (“Normally
one bald assertion is as good as another — but not when one party carries the burden of
persuasion that the other party’s determination was unreasonable.”). Moreover, it is often
reasonable to staff a relatively complex case with multiple lawyers. See Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Co.
v. Mutual Trading Corp., 63 F.3d 516, 526 (7 Cir. 1995).

Plaintiffs final challenge regards time spent by defendants after the Court’s September
2001 Order granting defendants summary judgment. Plaintiff asks the Court to exclude fees
incurred responding to plaintiffs motion to amend the Court’s judgment, appealing to the

6


these shortcomings, the Court will address each of plaintiff's objections.
1. Plaintiffs Objections

Plaintiff offers no explanations, citations to relevant authority, or reference to specific
time entries to support his first three challenges. For instance, plaintiff does not explain why the
Court should disregard defendants’ attorneys’ time spent negotiating with outside vendors. Nor
does plaintiff provide any support for his contention that the Court should exclude time spent
drafting estimates of attorney’s fees and costs. Moreover, it is not at all clear why defendants’
efforts devoted to these particular tasks represent hours not reasonably expended. As plaintiff
has not brought to the Court’s attention any evidence to challenge the reasonableness of the
specified work categories, the Court rejects plaintiffs first three objections.

Plaintiff's fourth objection is that defendants did not properly discount their time to
reflect work performed defending against plaintiff's non-ERISA claims.! Defendants respond that
plaintiff commingled his non-ERISA and ERISA claims so that it became impossible to
distinguish between the two when compiling their fee petition. The Court agrees that
defendants cannot recoup fees for attorney time spent responding to plaintiff's non-ERISA
claims. It is not realistic, however, to expect defendants to be able to articulate their time entries
in such a compartmentalized fashion. The defense of a case occurs much more holistically as
separate claims arising from a common core of facts intermingle quite easily. The Court will
nonetheless discount defendants’ hours by 20% or 354 hours to reflect time spent defending

against non-ERISA claims. This reduction is based on the Court’s best estimation of the relative

‘In addition to his ERISA claims, plaintiff brought a breach of contract claim based on
defendants’ failure to pay him a bonus.



School Dist., 489 U.S. 782, 789-90 (1989). But where the “claims of relief. . . involve a common
core of facts or {are] based on related legal theories” so that “much of counsel’s time will be
devoted generally to the litigation as a whole, making it difficult to divide the hours expended on
a claim-by-claim basis, . . . the district court should focus on the significance of the overall relief
obtained by the [prevailing party] in relation to the hours reasonably expended on the litigation.”
Hensley, 461 U.S. at 435.

Under these instructions, it is clear that the Court should not reduce defendants’ award
to reflect work devoted to the exhaustion of remedies defense. First and foremost, plaintiff did
not “prevail” on the issue. During the litigation, the Court issued two rulings regarding plaintiff's
failure to exhaust his administrative remedies — a denial of defendants’ motion to dismiss and
denial of plaintiff's cross motion for summary judgment.’ Neither decision suggests plaintiffs
success on the exhaustion issue. Regarding defendants’ motion to dismiss, the Court did not
deny the motion because plaintiff's position had merit, rather it was “to allow Plaintiff an
opportunity to develop his defense.” See Jan. 24 Order at 3. Nothing in the Court’s decision
indicated that defendants could not ultimately use the exhaustion defense to defeat plaintiffs
claims. Regarding plaintiff's cross motion for summary judgment, the Court flatly rejected
plaintiffs claim which argued that further administrative review would have been futile. This
unequivocal decision certainly does not bode victory for plaintiff on exhaustion claim. The

reality is that the Court never decided the exhaustion of remedies issue because it was not

*Defendants brought a motion to dismiss plaintiff's complaint for failure to exhaust his
administrative remedies. After the Court denied defendants’ motion, the parties cross moved for
summary judgment. One of plaintiff's arguments was that his failure to exhaust must be excused
due to futility.


Minute Order Form (06/97)

United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois

N f Assigned Jud: ili i Sitting Judge if Oth
vor Magistrate Judge William J. Hibbler than Assigned Judge
CASE NUMBER 01 C 1494 DATE $/21/03
CASE F. JOHN STARK, III v. PPM AMERICA, INC., et al.
TITLE
[In the following box (a) indicate the party filing the motion, e.g., plaintiff, defendant, 3rd party plaintiff, and (b) state briefly the nature
MOTION: of the motion being presented.]

Defendants’ Petition for Attorney’s Fees and Non-Taxable Costs (Doc. # 102)

JHC deputy's

initials

courtroom

“Date/time received in
ceatfal Clerk's Office
eoerks

DOCKET ENTRY:

qd) a Filed motion of [ use listing in “Motion” box above.]

(2) a Brief in support of motion due

(3) Q Answer brief to motion due . Reply to answer brief due.

(4) Qo Ruling/Hearing on. set for at

(5) Q Status hearing [held/continued to] [set for/re-set for] on set for at

(6) a Pretrial conference [held/continued to] [set for/re-set for] on set for at .

(7) QO Trial [set for/re-set for] on at

(8) im [Bench/Jury trial] [Hearing] held/continued to at

(9) o This case is dismissed [with/without] prejudice and without costs [by/agreement/pursuant to]

OOFRCP4(m) (O General Rule21 OM FRCP41(a)(1) OO FRCP41(a)(2).

(10) Ml {Otherdocketentry] Defendants’ Petition for Attorney’s Fees and Non-Taxable Costs (Doc. # 102)
is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Attorney’s fees are awarded in the amount of $261,529.00
and $0 in non-taxable costs. Enter memorandum opinion and order.

apy ao {For further detail see order attached to the original minute order.]

No notices required, advised in open court.
No notices required, number of notions
Notices mailed by judge’s staff.
Notified counsel by telephone. AY 2 3 2083
ov | Docketing to mail notices.
Mail AO 450 form. 4 Ace , [5
Copy to judge/magistrate judge.
MAY 23 2828

date maited not

mailing deputy initiats



reasonable hourly rate is to be calculated according to the prevailing “market rate” for the
services rendered. People Who Care v. Rockford Bd. of Educ., Sch. Dist., Number 205, 90 F.3d
1307, 1310 (7 Cir. 1996). An attorney’s market rate is the rate that lawyers of similar ability
and experience in the community normally charge their paying clients for the type of work in
question.” Bankston v. State of Ilinois 60 F.3d 1249, 1256 (7" Cir. 1995). The burden of proving
the “market rate” is on the fee applicant, McNabola v. Chicago Transit Authority, 10 F.3d 501,
518-19 (7" Cir. 1993); however once the attorney provides evidence establishing his market rate,
the burden shifts to the opposing party to demonstrate why a lower rate should be awarded.
People Who Care, 90 F.3d at 1313.

In support of its hourly rate, defendants offer the affidavit of Michael Banks of Morgan
Lewis and Rex Sessions of Winston & Strawn. Mr. Banks's affidavit sets forth his standard hourly
rates and states that he has handled dozens of complex employee benefits and executive
compensation issues. Mr. Sessions’s affidavit similarly sets forth his standard hourly rates and
states that he has been a partner at Winston & Strawn since 1992, but does not indicate his
expertise or relevant experience. Defendants also state that they have paid Morgan Lewis and
Winston & Strawn in full for all time charges and costs submitted to them for payment. Plaintiff
presents no evidence that defendants’ hourly rates are not within the market rate of the Chicago
area. In fact, plaintiff fails to make any argument whatsoever to challenge defendants’ hourly
rates. Despite this apparent concession, defendants still must bear the burden of proving the
market rate for their services. McNabola, 10 F.3d at 518-19.

The Court initially notes that defendants’ submissions regarding their hourly rates come
precipitously close to being insufficient. It is well established that an attorney's self-serving

li


justify awarding almost three quarters of a million dollars in legal fees without assurance that his
fees were deservedly earned. This same goes for Mr. Sessions of Winston & Strawn. Many of
Mr. Sessions’s entries are so poorly described that the Court must disregard them altogether.
Some particularly bad examples include:

3/5/2001: Conference with Morgan Lewis lawyers

3/23/2001: Correspondence to L. Seegers

8/8/2001: Multiple Conferences re various issue
These vague descriptions, which abound in defendants’ submissions, fail to provide the Court
with any basis to determine whether the attorneys’ work was necessary and reasonable.
Accordingly, the Court will reduce defendants’ hours by 30% or 425 hours. See Hensley, 461 U.S.
at 434 (“Where the documentation of hours is inadequate, the district court may reduce the
award accordingly.”). This reduction reflects the percentage of time entries provided without
adequate descriptions.

Defendants’ documentation also reveal of number of entries that describe tasks easily
delegable to non-professional assistance, such as configuring defendants’ computer software and
investigating various news articles. Such charges cannot be part of the award. Spegon, 175 F.3d
at 553. The Court will therefore deduct an additional 50 hours.

Adding the reductions and subtracting from the defendants’ totals, the Court finds that
defendants are entitled to attorney's fee for 941 hours. This represents an approximately 47%
reduction in requested hours.

b. Hourly Rate

After determining the number of hours reasonably expended, the Court must examine

whether the requested hourly rate is reasonable. Hensley, 461 U.S. at 433. Generally, a

10


Seventh Circuit, and discussing settlement. Plaintiff does not explain why ERISA’s discretionary
fee-shifting provision does not apply in the post-judgment and appellate process and the Court
has not found any authority holding that the provision does not apply in this context. In fact, the
Seventh Circuit has held ERISA’s non-discretionary fee shifting provision, § 1132(g) (2), includes
attorney's fees incurred in the post-judgment and appellate process. Plumbers’ Pension F. v. Domas
Mech. Contractors, 778 F.2d 1266 (7° Cir. 1985). The Court also notes that plaintiff voluntarily
decided to bring its post-judgement motion to amend for no other reason than what appears to be
an effort to posture itself for appeal. Thus, as defendants’ post-judgment activities appear
reasonable and mainly in response to plaintiff's motions, plaintiff's final objection is refused.
2. Level of Success

Plaintiff also argues that the Court must substantially reduce defendants’ recovery to
reflect the defendants’ level of success. Plaintiff claims that defendants did not prevail on their
exhaustion of remedies defense and therefore cannot recover fees for attorney time related to that
claim. Without hazarding a estimate, plaintiff contends that the parties spent an “inordinate”
amount of time litigating the exhaustion issue so that any substantive success enjoyed by
defendants was offset by plaintiff's procedural victory. In response, defendants categorically deny
that plaintiff prevailed on the exhaustion issue and that this Court’s orders clearly indicate as
much. Moreover, defendants claim that the exhaustion issue was not a separate claim that
should be scrutinized distinctly, but rather one of many arguments supporting their ultimately
successful position.

The Supreme Court has counseled district courts to reduce the fee award to account for
the limited success of the prevailing party. Texas State Teachers Assoc. v. Garland Independent

7


Il. DISCUSSION

A. Attorney’s Fees

A determination of attorney’s fees requires calculation of the “lodestar.” Mathur v. Board
of Trustees of Southern Illinois University, 317 F.3d 738, 742 (7 Cir. 2003). The lodestar is the
product of an attorney’s reasonable hourly rate and the number of hours reasonably expended.
Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 434 (1983). The Court must exclude from this calculation
hours that were not “reasonably expended” on the litigation. Id. Hours are not reasonably
expended if they are excessive, redundant, or otherwise unnecessary. Id. Further, the Court can
reduce the hours claimed by the number of hours spent litigating claims on which the party did
not succeed and that were distinct in all respects from claims on which the party did succeed. Id.
at 434-435; Spegon v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago, 175 F.3d 544, 550 (7TM Cir. 1999). After
determining the number of hours reasonably expended, the Court must examine whether the
requested hourly rate is reasonable. Hensley, 461 U.S. at 433. The Court then multiplies that
rate by the reasonable hours expended to obtain the lodestar. The party seeking the fee award
bears the burden of proving the reasonableness of the hours worked and the hourly rates claimed.
Id.

1. Lodestar

Before calculating the lodestar, the Court must address plaintiffs contention that any
award be limited to the period of time plaintiff originally commenced this action (March 2, 2001)
and the date plaintiff first identified the alleged Change of Control event under the Plan (May
15,2001). Plaintiff contends that the Court’s decision to award fees was based on his original
complaint’s failure to identify the actual transaction that effected a Change of Control and that

3


enumerate which costs may be assessed. It states only that a court may assess “reasonable
attorney's fees and costs of action to either party.” 29 U.S.C. § 1132(g)(1). The Supreme Court
has stated that the word “costs” in a fee shifting statute “is to be read in harmony with the word
‘costs’ in 28 U.S.C. § 1920.” West Virginia Univ. Hospitals, 499 U.S. at 87 n.3. Asa result, the
Seventh Circuit has held that the phrase “costs of the action” must be interpreted with reference
to 28 USC. § 1920. Uphoff v. Elegant Bath, Led., 176 F.3d 399, 411 (7" Cir. 1999) (interpreting
Fair Labor Standard Act 29 U.S.C. § 216(b)’s “costs of the action” with reference to § 1920).
Accordingly, the Court concludes that the phrase “cost of the action” in the ERISA fee-shifting
provision, can only be read to include those costs assessable under section 1920. This
interpretation accords with other circuits to address the issue. See, e.g, Agredano v. Mutual of
Omaha Companies, 75 F.3d 541, 544 (9" Cir. 1996). Therefore, despite the Court’s Jan. 24
ruling allowing non-taxable costs, the Court now holds that ERISA’s fee shifting provision only
allows defendants to recover for those costs permitted by section 1920.

Defendants’ submissions supporting their requests for costs are woefully inadequate. First,
as discussed above, it appears defendants are asking for reimbursement for many of same items
the Court already dealt with in its January 31, 2003 Order. The fact that these cost appear again
in defendants’ present petition is testament to the little degree of effort defendants have
expended to articulate a thorough and convincing summary of their expenditures. Defendants
have given the Court absolutely no basis to analyze the reasonableness of their requests or the
necessity of the costs for which they seek reimbursement. Despite this deficiency, the Court will
briefly examine the defendants’ requests.

Regarding depositions and related travel expenses, defendants have not provided any

14



Defendants’ petition includes over 80 pages of dated billing entries totaling $415,508 in legal fees
from Morgan Lewis and $77,962.50 from Winston & Strawn. Defendants also Tequest
$71,168.59 in non-taxable costs.

Defendants attach the affidavits of Michael Banks of Morgan Lewis and Rex Sessions of
Winston & Strawn in support of their petition. Mr. Banks's affidavit alleges that he acted as lead
counsel and charged hourly rates of $395, $425, $450. The affidavit also states that Morgan
Lewis staffed the case with associates, paralegals, and occasionally consulted a corporate partner.
Mr. Sessions’s affidavit alleges that he billed defendants at hourly rates ranging from $400 to
$435. The affidavit also states that Winston & Strawn utilized an associate with hourly rates
ranging from $185 to $220.

Plaintiff raises a number of objections to defendants’ submissions. Plaintiff first argues
that defendants’ award must be limited to the fees accrued between the time plaintiff commenced
the action and the date plaintiff identified a Change in Control event under the Plan. Plaintiff
also claims that the total amount of fees requested is excessive, unreasonable, and the result of
duplicative efforts by defendants’ attorneys. Plaintiff further argues that defendants’ petition does
not discriminate between successful and unsuccessful claims and defendants can only recover fees
telating to those claims upon which they prevailed.

Defendants respond that plaintiff's temporal limitation on their fee recovery is arbitrary,
inaccurate, and contrary to the Jan. 24" Order. Defendants also claim that the requested fees
and costs are reasonable and are less than what plaintiff paid his own attorneys. Defendants

further dispute that plaintiff prevailed on any claims that would necessitate parsing the fee award.



IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS

EASTERN DIVISION
DO ¢ ie {i Ee
F. JOHN STARK, III, ) mene
) MAY 2 3 2003
Plaintiff, )
)
v. )
)
PPM AMERICA, INC., ) No. 01 C1494
PPM HOLDINGS, INC., and )
the AMENDED AND RESTATED ) The Honorable William J. Hibbler
PPM HOLDINGS, INC. CHANGE OF )
CONTROL SEVERANCE PLAN, )
PLAN NO. 503, )
)
Defendants. )

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

On September 23, 2002, this Court entered summary judgment in favor of defendants on,
inter alia, plaintiff's claim for benefits under a Change of Control Severance Plan governed by
ERISA (Plan). On January 24, 2003, the Court awarded defendants attorney's fee and non-
taxable costs pursuant ERISA’s discretionary fee-shifting provision, 29 U.S.C. § 1132(g)(1) Jan.
24 Order). Now before the Court is defendants’ petition for attorney’s fees and non-taxable
costs and plaintiff's objections. For the following reasons, defendants are awarded $261,529.00
in attorney's fees and $0 in non-taxable costs.

I. BACKGROUND

Defendants were represented in this action by two law firms — Morgan, Lewis & Bockius

LLP (Morgan Lewis) and Winston & Strawn. The Philadelphia-based Morgan Lewis assumed

the primary defense and the Chicago-based Winston & Strawn acted as local counsel.

| [|


affidavit alone cannot satisfy a party's burden of establishing the market rate for that attorney's
services. Spegon, 175 F.3d at 556. Defendants, however, also state that they paid their attorneys
in full for all services rendered. A client’s payment of the bills is evidence that the firm was
charging a reasonable rate. Balcor Real Estate Holding, Inc. v. Walentas-Phoenix Corp., 73 F.3d
150, 153 (7° Cir. 1996) (“the best evidence of the market value of legal services is what people
pay for it.”); see also Berthold Types, Ltd. v. Adobe Systems, Inc., 186 F. Supp.2d 834, 839 (N.D. IIL.
2002). Accordingly, the rates presented in defendants’ petition are accepted as reasonable.
C Plaintiff's Ability to Satisfy Award

Plaintiffs final attempt to lower the fee award is based on his professed inability to satisfy
any award of the magnitude that defendants’ petition requests. Plaintiff claims that his current
financial situation constitutes a special circumstance that would make an award unjust. Senese v.
Chicago Area I.B. of T. Pension Fund, 237 F.3d 819, 826 (7" Cir. 2001) (noting that an award of
fees will be denied if “special circumstance make an award unjust.”). To support his contention
that he cannot satisfy a large award, plaintiff submits a self-serving affidavit purporting to
illustrate his present insolvency. Conspicuously absent from plaintiff's submissions, however, is
any extrinsic evidence to support his cries of poverty. As the Court has already found plaintiffs
self-serving affidavits insufficient to substantiate his alleged destitution, see Jan. 24" Order at 5, it
is surprising that plaintiff did not present additional evidence (such as tax returns, W-2s, or bank
statements) to support his present objections. Based on plaintiffs repeated failure to adequately
establish his present financial condition, the Court finds that plaintiff has not sufficiently
demonstrated a special circumstance that would make an award unjust and therefore denies

plaintiffs final request to reduce attorney’s fees.

12



evidence as to the nature of the depositions or their use in the case. Regarding the copying of
documents, defendants provide no information about what was copied or how the copies were
used. Further, defendants did not give the Court any information to determine the necessity of
the photocopies. Consequently, defendants’ requests for deposition (and related travel expenses)
and copying costs are denied.

Furthermore, the Court will not allow defendants to recover expenditures for phone calls,
delivery services, and postage as these expenditures are not expressly provided for section 1920.
Walh v. Carrier Mfg., 511 F.2d. 209, 217 (7 Cir. 1975). The Court similarly rejects defendants’
request for costs for its outside vendor hired to process e-mails as this expense cannot be read
into the statute. Moreover, defendants have failed to provide even basic details about the nature
of the e-mails or their use in the litigation. Lastly, defendants cannot recover their expenses for
computerized legal research. It is well established that costs associated with computerized legal
research ate not considered “costs” but rather part of the attorney’s fees award. Haroco, Inc. v.
American National Bank and Trust Company of Chicago, 38 F.3d 1429, 1440-41 (7 Cir. 1994),
Therefore and for the above reasons, defendants’ request for non-taxable costs in the amount of
$71,168.59 is denied in its entirety.

CONCLUSION

For the reasons stated above, the defendants’ request. for attorney’s fees and non-taxable
costs is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Attorney's feesare awarded in the amount of
$261,529.00 and $0 is awarded in non-taxable costs.

IT IS SO ORDERED.
Tas Qf