Case Detail

FOIA Project Annotation: In another one of a slew of attorney's fees cases brought by Louse Trauma Center, a federal court in Maryland has ruled that while David Cleveland, the attorney who represented LTC, was eligible for attorney's fees, the court reduced the fee request by 50 percent to reflect a reduction in the hourly rate charged by Cleveland and the excess of hours charged, after rejecting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' argument that because Judge Dabney Friedrich of the District Court for the District of Columbia had recently shown skepticism of LTC's eligibility for attorney's fees in a case before her, Judge Richard Bennett of the District Court in Maryland should rule the same way. In the case before Bennett, LTC had asked for $43,000 in fees for its litigation regarding several FOIA requests it had submitted to USCIS. LTC later raised the amount to $54,560,adding its claim for litigating the attorney's fees issue. Bennett found that the four-factor test was more or less even but decided LTC qualified for attorney's fees. Cleveland had asked for an hourly rate of $620. Because he had more than 30 years of experience as an attorney, he had qualified for such a rate in earlier cases. However, Bennett found the rate too high and lowered it to $475 an hour, based on the local rules. Bennett also lowered LTC's request for 88 hours of work as unsupported and lowered it to half that amount. He noted that "in general, the Center's billing records fail to provide adequately specific descriptions as to the tasks performed, inhibiting the Court's determination of reasonableness."
Issues: Litigation - Attorney's fees - Eligibility

Date Filed	Doc #	Docket Text
2023-06-09	1	COMPLAINT against United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ( Filing fee $ 402 receipt number AMDDC-10646573.), filed by Louise Trauma Center LLC.(Cleveland, David) (Entered: 06/09/2023)
2023-06-09	2	NOTICE by Louise Trauma Center LLC re 1 Complaint (Attachments: # 1 Summons, # 2 Summons, # 3 Summons)(Cleveland, David) (Entered: 06/09/2023)
2023-06-09	3	Local Rule 103.3 Disclosure Statement by Louise Trauma Center LLC (Cleveland, David) (Entered: 06/09/2023)
2023-06-09	4	Consent to Magistrate Judge (Cleveland, David) (Entered: 06/09/2023)
2023-06-09	5	Summons Issued 60 days as to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Attorney and U.S. Attorney General(mg3s, Deputy Clerk) (Entered: 06/09/2023)
2023-06-14	6	SUMMONS Returned Executed by Louise Trauma Center LLC. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services served on 6/13/2023, answer due 8/14/2023. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit)(Cleveland, David) (Entered: 06/14/2023)
2023-06-14	7	SUMMONS Returned Executed by Louise Trauma Center LLC. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit)(Cleveland, David) (Entered: 06/14/2023)
2023-06-14	8	SUMMONS Returned Executed by Louise Trauma Center LLC. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit)(Cleveland, David) (Entered: 06/14/2023)
2023-07-13	9	ANSWER to 1 Complaint by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.(Thomas, Beatrice) (Entered: 07/13/2023)
2023-07-14	10	SCHEDULING ORDER: Status Report due by 11/27/2023. Signed by Judge Richard D. Bennett on 7/14/2023. (Attachments: # 1 Informal Discovery Letter)(mg3s, Deputy Clerk) (Entered: 07/14/2023)
2023-07-28	11	Status Report Submitted and Request for Hearing by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (Thomas, Beatrice) (Entered: 07/28/2023)
2023-07-28	12	STATUS REPORT by Louise Trauma Center LLC(Cleveland, David) (Entered: 07/28/2023)
2023-08-01		Telephone Conference held on 8/1/2023 before Judge Richard D. Bennett. (jh2s, Deputy Clerk) (Entered: 08/01/2023)
2023-08-01	13	LETTER ORDER to counsel regarding scheduling. Signed by Judge Richard D. Bennett on 8/1/2023. (mg3s, Deputy Clerk) (Entered: 08/01/2023)
2023-11-27	14	STATUS REPORT [JOINT] by Louise Trauma Center LLC(Cleveland, David) (Entered: 11/27/2023)
2023-12-23	15	Joint MOTION To reset deadlines by Louise Trauma Center LLC(Cleveland, David) (Entered: 12/23/2023)
2023-12-28	16	ORDER granting 15 Joint MOTION To reset deadlines. Signed by Judge Richard D. Bennett on 12/28/2023. (mg3s, Deputy Clerk) (Entered: 12/28/2023)
2024-01-19	17	MOTION for Attorney Fees by Louise Trauma Center LLC (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit, # 2 Exhibit, # 3 Exhibit, # 4 Exhibit, # 5 Exhibit, # 6 Exhibit, # 7 Exhibit, # 8 Exhibit, # 9 Exhibit, # 10 Exhibit)(Cleveland, David) (Entered: 01/19/2024)
2024-02-05	18	RESPONSE in Opposition re 17 MOTION for Attorney Fees filed by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. (Attachments: # 1 Memorandum in Support, # 2 Exhibit 1, # 3 Exhibit 2, # 4 Exhibit 3, # 5 Exhibit 4, # 6 Exhibit 5, # 7 Exhibit 6, # 8 Exhibit 7, # 9 Exhibit 8, # 10 Exhibit 9)(Thomas, Beatrice) (Entered: 02/05/2024)
2024-02-11	19	REPLY to Response to Motion re 17 MOTION for Attorney Fees filed by Louise Trauma Center LLC. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit, # 2 Exhibit)(Cleveland, David) (Entered: 02/11/2024)
2024-08-21	20	Correspondence re: Update to the Court (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit)(Thomas, Beatrice) (Entered: 08/21/2024)
2024-08-28	21	MEMORANDUM OPINION. Signed by Judge Richard D. Bennett on 8/28/2024. (hmls, Deputy Clerk) (Entered: 08/28/2024)
2024-08-28	22	ORDER GRANTING IN PART and DENYING IN PART 17 MOTION for Attorney Fees; Entering JUDGMENT in favor of Plaintiff and against the Defendant in the amount of $21,492; DIRECTING the Clerk of Court to CLOSE this case. Signed by Judge Richard D. Bennett on 8/28/2024. (hmls, Deputy Clerk) (Entered: 08/28/2024)
Hide Docket Events