Bit Parts

A magistrate for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York reduced an attorney fees award by just 15%, in litigation over three related production agreements, by focusing on counsels' time spent on the most valuable contract. 4Kids Entertainment Inc. v. Upper Deck Co., 10 Civ. 3386. 4Kids and Upper Deck entered into agreements for the production of an animated TV series called Huntik, and for production of commercials for the show and for a Dinosaur King card game. 4Kids later sued, alleging Upper Deck had failed to properly make payments due under the deals, including $175,000 still owed as part of an advance under the series production contract. (The value of the other two agreements was $2,432 for the TV-show commercials deal and $5,879 for the card game commercials.) District Judge Colleen McMahon granted summary judgment to 4Kids for breach of contract claims under the first and third agreements, but dismissed 4Kids' claims under the TV show commercials contract. (Upper Deck then paid 4Kids under the card game agreement.) Determining 4Kids' attorney fees under contractual indemnification between the parties, Gabriel W. Gorenstein explained: “First, the Huntik Term Sheet [i.e., TV production contract] claim was by far the one of the greatest value. ' Second, there was a 'substantial overlap' in the claims. While certain legal theories were disallowed on the summary judgment motions, courts recognize that hours spent on unsuccessful claims may be awarded if the claims are 'inextricably intertwined' and 'involve a common core of facts.' ' Given the interconnectivity between the claims, the Court concludes that an across-the-board reduction of 15% in total hours for each [4Kids litigation] attorney is appropriate to arrive at a figure for the fees attributable to the Huntik Term Sheet claim by itself.”

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