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“You’re nothing but a smear merchant. Instead of addressing what he wrote you write a 600 word attack piece.”

I’m unlikely to change philman_36’s opinion of me, but I’ll point out that I wrote:

“Here in reality Donofrio just plain lost, but how bad remains to be seen. The side that trounced D&P has so far only listed minor costs. Paying for the other side’s photocopying may sting a bit, but it’s not big money. IANAL. Near as I can tell, the remand clearly orders charges costs to D&B, and whether that will include attorney’s fees remains open as of this day.”

Since I wrote that, the winning side — that beat Donofrio and Pidgeon — has moved for attorneys fees, naming the amount of $128,762.50. In the same motion they note that Donofrio and Pidgeon (D&P) have not yet paid the already-assessed expenses amounting to $117.60. When I previously wrote of how the winners had “only listed minor costs”, and “it’s not big money”, that hundred-some dollar figure was what I meant. The big deal on the award I described as: “whether that will include attorney’s fees remains open as of this day.”

$128,762.50 seems high. Leo Donofrio made a point of how his opponents should not have needed $600/hr lawyers if his case were “utterly frivolous” as the Court found it to be. His figure for the rate is remarkably precise, as the winners filing names: “Requested Fees — 213.75 Hours, $128,762.50”. That works out to $602.40 per hour. It also means 5.3 weeks work at that rate to produce the filings that so easily trounced D&P.

Is $128,762.50 a reasonable amount? Will the winners collect anything like that from losers Donofrio and Pidgeon? I don’t know. I am not, have never been, and am unlikely to ever be a lawyer. $128,762.50 strikes me as high by a factor of a few to several. That said, I’m happy with my reporting here. Novice though I am on such matter, I darn sure called this one.