u/SpiritofGarfield

I think what's really upset me the most about this case is Lively's lawyers and what they've gotten away with. And what they're likely to get away with. Their Summary of Fees and Expenses contains multitudes (of problematic entries).

I got a wild hair and thought it would be fun (my definition of fun, lol) to create a A Table of Unreasonable Fees, if you will.

Realistically, I don't think Wayfarer can address the sheer amount of issues in their 10 page response. I bet they mainly focus on the block billing/lack of invoices and the authority of the "expert" saying Lively's fees are reasonable. As well as hopefully ask for a significant percentage reduction. I think an Exhibit with a table would be helpful (and hope they add one).

I've opened this up to anyone who is interested. Anyone can add to it.

For each entry I have the following fields:

* Invoice #

* Work Date

* Timekeeper

* Hours

* Amount

* Description of Fees

* Category

* Duplicative Entries (if applicable)

* Unreasonable Nature of Fees

* Case Law (to support why this is unreasonable)

The Categories I've come up with so far are:

• Overstafffed
• Excessive Research
• Redundant
• Redcated/Insufficiently Documented
• Vague Billing (Like “attention to case”)
• Administrative/Clerical or Non-Legal Tasks
• Intraoffice Conferencing (excessive meetings/contacts between the law firms without justification)
• Unrelated Claim or Unrelated Work
• Otherwise unnecessary
• Duplicative (dumbattorney's suggestion)

NAL - But I found the court's ruling on this case from the early 00s pretty interesting.

>After carefully considering the record in this case; the results obtained; Plaintiff's failure to provide adequate documentation, segregate his hours, and follow the court's instructions; and the court's experience in setting fees in other cases, the court believes that a reduction of 50% of the requested amount of fees for the years 1999, 2000, and 2001 constitutes a reasonable attorney's fee award. This reduction is necessary to ensure that Plaintiff is not awarded more than that to which he is entitled. The court is unimpressed by Plaintiff's dividing the hours by half with respect to the time spent on the section 7433 claim and section 6672 claim. Such an approach, at best, is speculation unsupported by competent evidence to verify its accuracy. For the year 2002, the court also believes that a reduction of 50% is appropriate. Although most of the work in 2002 appears to be related to the section 6672 claim, the court determines that such a reduction is necessary because of the duplicative and unnecessary work performed by Plaintiff's counsel, and Plaintiff's failure to present documentation to verify the accuracy of the hours claimed in his counsel's affidavit.

>For purposes of calculating the fee, the court again uses the $150 per hour rate. The court uses this rate to compensate for the delay in payment. As the court uses the higher rate to adjust for the delay in payment, it declines to award any prejudgment interest. See Walker, 99 F.3d at 773. Based upon the court's conclusions herein and the amount requested by Plaintiff for the years 1999, 2000, and 2001, the court awards Plaintiff $8,400 (112 hours × .50 at $150 per hour) as reasonable attorney's fees for these years. For the year 2002, the court awards Plaintiff $18,318.75 (244.25 hours × .50 at $150 per hour) as reasonable attorney's fees. Expenses of $45 are awarded as requested. The total amount of attorney's fees and costs for the years 1999-2002 is $26,763.75.

>The court is convinced that Plaintiff would have recovered more had he submitted adequate documentation and followed the court's instructions. He has no one to blame but himself for having received a reduced fee, as litigants take their chances of getting a low fee or no fee when they submit inadequate documentation. See Kellstrom, 50 F.3d at 327.

Some Thoughts:

1. This case seems to correlate with some of Lively's actions: not providing adequate documentation (i.e. Lively's non-contemporaneous spreadsheet), not segregating hours (i.e. Lively including hours for other claims/discovery of her own case).
2. Liman can significantly reduce what they're asking. The "take their chance of getting a low fee or no fee" seems to refer more to parts rather than the whole (like billed hours may be taken off the amount awarded due to lack of documentation). Although 🤞🏻 Liman grows a wild hair and denies all attorney's fees, lol.
3. It seems like this court was more generous due to a delay in payment. I don't think we have a similar issue in regards to the Lively case.
4. I loved this judge's reprimands to the Plaintiff. Would love to see Liman do something similar.
5. I hope Liman will do a fee reduction for not separating out the claims. There were like 13 claims and only the 1 defamation claim applies so in my opinion, Wayfarer should only have to pay 7%.

Prediction for Amount Awarded: $1.5 million. While I think Liman is 100% done with this case, he has been very thorough throughout. I think he and his clerks will go over the spreadsheet and pick out what obviously doesn't belong, but will likely allow things that seem "reasonable." I also think he'll do a fee reduction (possibly 50%) for not including contemporaneous documentation.

So due to a couple bad experiences (one man refusing to deliver my groceries unless I went to his car and another lady lying about the availability of multiple items (all the items were available direct from the store for pickup within 2 hours) plus a damaged product), I have channeled my inner mob boss of giving half the tip up front and the other half when the goods are delivered. That said, most of the delivery people have been really awesome (one was even a former coworker, lol) and I've contacted Instacart about not having the one lady do any more of my orders so 🤞🏻 I don't ever get her again.

That said, I have an order scheduled for tomorrow and I realized that it's below what I'd consider even half the tip. I tried to go back and change it, but it's not an option. Do you think I should cancel and redo my order or just pay extra after the delivery? I'm mainly asking because the tip is so low I'm not sure anyone will even want to shop it. It's a larger order like 30 items. What would you do?

I am going through a bout of poverty so I've paused my Hulu/Disney for a few months, but I have one last week so I'd like to get my money's worth. 😄 I would love any recommendations of shows that can only be found on Hulu/Disney (I borrow HBO, Peacock, Paramount, and Netflix so feel free to recommend good shows from those services too).

TV Shows I Love:

• Paradise (it's like if Lost and This Is Us had a post-apocalyptic baby - I think I like how it's unexpected but also makes me cry)
• Timeless (time travel and history is my jam)
• Pluribus (I love shows with interesting world building that make you think)
• Severance (similar reason as to Pluribus plus I just like Adam Scott)
• Queen Charlotte (super romantic for me - I love when people find their lobster - even if that lobster has severe mental health issues - plus the 1700s/1800s is my favorite time period)
• Community
• Arrested Development (Fox seasons)
• Parks and Rec (my absolute fave - has heart and is laugh out loud funny)
• The IT Crowd
• Firefly (liked it because it's a character-based sci-fi show)
• Stranger Things (great characters/nostalgia - even though I was too little to remember the 80s)
• Grey’s Anatomy (only 1st 3 seasons - I love a good soapy medical drama before it gets too cray cray)
• The Crown (seasons 1-2 - love a well-done historical drama)
• The Amazing Race
• Great British Bake Off/Great Pottery Throw Down - different craft, same vibe - pleasant British people calmly making stuff

Things I Don't Like:

- shows primarily set in 1910-1949 (if it's a time travel show that makes a temporary stop it's no biggie)

- adultery/love triangles - except if the adultery is like Fitz/Olivia from Scandal - out of this world chemistry

- Outlander

- violence/scariness: Stranger Things is as scary as I get. Paradise is as violent as I get. I don't consider these shows that violent/scary because while there is a lot of gore - it's relatively quick and not torture-based or of a sexually violent nature.

Shows I've Already Seen (or tried) on Hulu/Disney: (* = not my fave but up there)

High Potential*, Scrubs* (new and old), Cranford, The Nanny, New Girl, Glee, 30 Rock, Ugly Betty, Rivals, How I Met Your Mother, Schitt's Creek*, The Mindy Project, House, Nine Perfect Strangers, The Bear, A Million Little Things, Not Suitable for Work, Superstore*, Project Runway, Pretty Little Liars, The Goldbergs, Home Improvement, The Rookie, Frasier*, Not Dead Yet, Only Murders in the Building, Wandavision*, Agatha All Along, Once Upon a Time*, Abbott Elementary, Boy Meets World*, Raising Hope, Happy Endings*, Cougar Town, My Name is Earl, Elementary, Malcolm in the Middle (there are probably more shows but these are the main ones recommended for me)

I'm pretty much up for any genre.

I love teaching. I love being a professor. Coming from the job I had, it's a breath of fresh air. But every job has its ups and downs - and dealing with grading - no me gusta.

I am very concerned about how so many of my students don't understand how to determine their grade on their own (points you have/points possible) or just the basic math that missing 300 points for not turning in a project is way worse than missing a 25 point quiz. I think next semester I'm going to explicitly teach them how to figure out their grades.

I'm currently handling a situation where a student is debating me over something that would give her at most 15 points back to her grade. She's still going to have an 83% with or without the points. I did give her an opportunity to prove she did what she said she did with a screenshot. She messages me and like "here's my screenshot that proves XYZ." It doesn't have a screenshot attached.

Sadly, this isn't the first time student have played the "I sent you an email or message with XYZ, you didn't get it?" game. What's frustrating is I could understand if it was for a grade that would keep them from failing or bump them up to an A, but it never is. I wish I could just be blunt and tell them this fight isn't worth it, you're going to fail regardless. But, you know, professionalism and whatnot.

Anyone else experience this?