- 28 - Time Hourly Attorney/Item expended rate Total cost Wendy Pearson 8.8 hours $195 $1,716.00 Terri Merriam 2.9 hours 195 565.50 Jennifer Gellner 10.5 hours 150 1,575.00 Jennifer Gellner 2.1 hours 110 231.00 Legal assistant 10.3 hours 75 772.50 Contract assistance 10.0 hours 50 500.00 Tax Court filing fee -- -- 60.00 Postage -- -- 5.84 Online research -- -- 12.00 Share of group fees and costs1 -- -- 5,916.20 Total fees and costs 11,354.04 1The amount petitioner claims for her share of the group fees and costs represents charges to separate accounts for two groups of Hoyt investor clients and includes attorney’s fees billed at an hourly rate of $195 for some of petitioner’s attorneys and the costs of contract assistance, online research, postage, copies, and the attorneys’ hotels, meals, and parking as well as the costs of work performed by legal assistants. 2. The Parties’ Arguments Respondent contends that the costs petitioner claims are unreasonable in that the hourly rate charged by some of petitioner’s attorneys exceeds $150 per hour, and petitioner has not shown that any of the three special factors enumerated in section 7430(c)(1)(B)(iii) apply. Respondent further argues that costs petitioner claims for her share of the group fees are not reasonable because (1) the method of billing does not properly account for the time expended or hourly rate at which the work was performed, and (2) the fees were charged for work that contributed to the resolution of clients’ cases other than petitioner’s and, therefore, were not “incurred in connectionPage: Previous 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011