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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

PENSACOLA DIVISION

GARY BULLARD and

CYNTHIA W. BULLARD,

Plaintiffs,

v. CASE NO.: 3:10cv434/MCR/CJK

US BANK, N.A., et al.,

Defendants.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION 

This matter is before the Magistrate Judge on referral from the Chief District

Judge for the purpose of determining US Bank’s Notice of Filing Affidavit of US

Bank’s Attorney’s Fees and Costs Incurred in Preparing US Bank’s Motion to Impose

Sanctions (doc. 84). This matter was heard in open court on March 21, 2012.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs, as well as for US Bank, were present and made their

points quite clearly. The document in question was filed by US Bank in response to

the Chief Judge’s ruling requiring attorneyBruce Committee to “payUS Bank’s costs

of preparing the motion for sanctions.” (Doc. 75, 4).

I have thoroughly considered the document filed by US Bank’s attorneys. 

Mindful that the Chief Judge’s order carefully circumscribes those activities for

which reimbursement may be sought, I am of the opinion that the following items are

excessive in terms of the amount of attorneys time claimed:

12/20/11 Draft Motion for Sanctions for Failure to Attend Mediation 3.30 hrs. @ $336.88/hr.

1/4/12 Draft Affidavit as to fees and costs incurred for mediation 2.20 hrs. @ $336.88/hr.

1/6/12 Review affidavits .7 hrs. @ $428.75/hr.

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Based upon my thirty five years experience as a judge and as a litigator, I find

that these amounts are excessive, although I do not make any accusation that they are

inflated from the time actually spent by these lawyers in performing the tasks

described. The simple fact is that the drafting of the items I have noted above should

not have taken the amount of time claimed by these lawyers. They are boilerplate

documents that do not require an extensive amount of attention or expertise. The

total amount of time claimed to have been incurred on these items is 8.8 hours. I find

that justice requires that this total time be reduced to 6.1hours total which reflects a

reduction of 1.3 hours for the drafting of the motion for sanctions for failure to attend

mediation, a reduction to 1.0 hour for the draft affidavits asto fees and costs incurred

for mediation, and a reduction to 0.4 hours for review affidavits, yielding the

aforesaid total of 6.1 hours. Using the claimed 8.8 hours as the denominator and the

allowable 6.1 hours as the numerator, and multiplying that fraction times the total

amount claimed of $3,065.62, one arrives at a total of $2,125.03. 

Accordingly, it is respectfully RECOMMENDED that plaintiffs’ counsel,

Bruce E. Committee, be required within a time certain, to pay as sanctions to US

Bank and its attorneys the amount of $2,125.03.

DONE AND ORDERED this 23rd day of March, 2012.

/s/Charles J. Kahn, Jr.

CHARLES J. KAHN, JR.

UNITEDSTATESMAGISTRATEJUDGE

Case No: 3:10cv434/MCR/CJK

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NOTICE TO THE PARTIES

Any objections to these proposed findings and recommendations must be filed within

fourteen days after being served a copy thereof. Any different deadline that may

appear on the electronic docket is for the court’s internal use only, and does not

control. A copy of objections shall be served upon all other parties. Failure to object

may limit the scope of appellate review of factual findings. See 28 U.S.C. § 636;

United States v. Roberts, 858 F.2d 698, 701 (11 Cir. 1988). th

Case No: 3:10cv434/MCR/CJK

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