by Ed Lyon

Emily Posner is a Louisiana attorney representing state prisoner Kenneth Idel in a federal civil rights lawsuit. Idel alleges that prison guard Richard Pope broke and caused permanent damage to his jaw when Pope kneed the back of his head while he was on the ground in a prone position, handcuffed, helpless, and not a threat to anyone.

The defendants resisted Posner’s attempts to secure compliance with her discovery requests to the point that Posner was finally forced to prepare and prosecute a motion to compel for the court to act on, which was subsequently successful.

Posner filed a motion with the court to fix and award her attorney fees on her motion to compel in the amount of $2,392.00. The defendants vigorously opposed Posner’s motion.

Posner billed at $175 per hour and $15 per hour for her paralegal. The court ruled the rates were fair for an attorney of her experience, opposed to the defendant’s assertion of $150 per hour. Agreeing in part with the defendants, the court disagreed with the number of hours Posner billed in her motion. Posner sought to bill 15.04 hours. The court found 7.09 hours to be a reasonable billing number and reduced the monetary amount to $1,240.75 and ordered the defendants to pay Posner within 14 days.

See: Idel v. LeBlanc, et. al, U.S.D.C. (E.D. LA), Case No. 17-1553

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