Opinion ID: 4020402
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Drafting and Editing Filings

Text: Defendants point out that the SEIU Local 1 team, which included six attorneys, charged 300 hours for drafting and editing the complaint and preliminary injunction motion,8 and an additional 130 hours, involving six attorneys, for drafting and editing their twenty-page reply. Similarly, the NEOCH Plaintiffs charged 150 hours, from eleven attorneys, to draft the motion to enjoin. Defendants note that the NEOCH team billed 190 hours, from thirteen different attorneys, drafting, editing, or reviewing the May 30 brief regarding the Decree’s validity. The NEOCH Plaintiffs also billed 215 hours between August 21 and September 4 for appellate brief work that included work from ten different attorneys. The SEIU Local 1 Plaintiffs submitted 375+ hours from six attorneys for the SEIU Local 1 appellate brief. 8 Leonard herself billed 120+ hours from June 7 to 21 on the preliminary injunction motion. Five other attorneys billed for drafting and editing that motion. Reddy and Leyton billed a combined 22.1 hours described as “Research and draft substantive due process argument.” Nos. 14-4083/ 4084/ Northeast Ohio Coalition, et al. v. Husted, et al. Page 26 4132/ 4133/ 15-3295/ 3296/ 3380/ 3381 Defendants also point to “excessive” time on minor filings, such as at least 8 hours to provide notice to the district court that SEIU Local 1 was related to NEOCH/Hunter litigation. Also SEIU Local 1 counsel billed 13 hours (four attorneys) for a case-related letter to this court. Defendants maintain that the foregoing litany establishes that counsel spent unreasonable hours on their motions and briefing, which often involved the same or similar issues. Defendants claim abuse of discretion by the district court because its analysis was minimal—namely, that it did not address the actual hours billed for drafting and editing, did not analyze any specific billing entries, and offered merely “a brief, oversimplified mention of the State’s positions.” However, other than aggregating the time spent on specific filings, Defendants offer no explanation why the hours were excessive. Thus, as the district court held, Defendants failed to meet their burden of establishing error in light of Plaintiffs’ detailed records and the district court’s findings. See Imwalle, 515 F.3d at 553. Granted, numerous hours by more than several attorneys were billed for drafting and editing motions and briefs. But those submissions, prepared under extreme time pressure, helped the district court resolve the issues in this case in Plaintiffs’ favor. The district court’s overall assessment of hours reasonably expended was based on its unique understanding and reliance on Plaintiffs’ research and advocacy. As we observed in Coulter, “[w]hen the issue is a question of the lawyer’s judgment in billing for a particular number of hours on a piece of work, we must depend in larger measure on the fairness of the District Court in assessing the needs of the case.” Coulter, 805 F.2d at 152. To put it bluntly, the district court assessed that Plaintiffs’ substantial success was due to the skill and substantial efforts of counsel, and its expressly said so. That decision deserves substantial deference.