A recent Law 360 story by Nathan Hale, “Judge Backs $30K in Fees for Alan Parsons’ Contempt Effort,” reports that a Florida federal magistrate recommended trimming an attorney's fee request from Grammy Award–winning music veteran Alan Parsons to just under $30,000 to cover costs he incurred obtaining a civil contempt finding against his former promoter in a trademark infringement lawsuit.

In a report and recommendation, U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie R. Hoffman approved of most of the request filed by lawyers from three firms that worked on Parsons' claim that defendants John Regna and World Entertainment Associates of America Inc. violated a preliminary injunction in the case, but she said two out-of-state attorneys failed to support the nearly four-figure hourly rates they submitted.  "[N]o further information about these attorneys' experience or expertise is discussed, and plaintiffs submit no further evidence suggesting that the hourly rates sought for these attorneys are reasonable," she said.

Despite a lack of objection from the defense, Judge Hoffman recommended the court calculate the fees award for Jeff Goldman and Rod S. Berman of California-based Jeffer Mangels Butler & Marmaro LLP at a rate of $375 an hour — equal to what another attorney requested and what courts in the Middle District of Florida have granted in similar cases — rather than the $945 per hour and $995 per hour that they had respectively requested. 

She recommended to U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton Jr. that he award the full amounts of $24,030.50 requested by attorneys from O'Connell & Crispin Ackal PLLC and $5,137.50 requested by attorney Brian P. Deeb, whose fee was specifically cited by Judge Hoffman.  And she recommended the court reimburse Goldman and Berman $825 for the 2.2 hours of work they said they contributed, instead of the $2,109 they requested.