Opinion ID: 2321828
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Was the $3.2 Million Fee Award An Abuse of Discretion?

Text: Genger next claims that even if the Court of Chancery's spoliation and contempt findings were correct, the court abused its discretion by awarding the Trump Group an additional $3.2 million in fees as a sanction for those violations. He argues that that fee award was disproportionate to any violations, particularly since the trial court had earlier imposed as sanctions a heightened burden of proof and a prior $750,000 attorneys' fees award. Assuming without deciding that $3.2 million falls on the higher end of the range of a reasonable fee, the record establishes that Genger expressly waived his right to challenge the reasonableness of that award. The Court of Chancery's Final Judgment Order expressly recites that Genger agree[d] that he w[ould] not challenge the reasonableness of the amount of such fee award (whether on appeal or otherwise), except on the ground that it was improper to award any sanction . . . for [the Court of Chancery's] contempt finding. . . . [52] Therefore, this issue was not properly preserved for appeal and, at most, is reviewable only for plain error. [53] We find no plain error. The $3.2 million figure was not arbitrarily determined. The amount of attorneys, expert, and technology consultant fees was hotly contested, and that $3.2 million figure was the result of the parties' compromise. [54] In these circumstances, the reasonableness of that fee award does not, nor could it, constitute plain error. Consequently, that award must be upheld.