Judge William Skretny
Cold Spring Construction Co.’s former employee Spikes—who never married—died without designating a beneficiary to the $68,600 in his profit sharing plan account. Ten individuals claim to be Spikes’ children. The court dismissed Cold Spring from the instant interpleader action. Cold Spring also sought $19,931 in attorney fees and costs. The court awarded it $14,914 comprising $13,605 in attorney fees and $1,309 in costs. Time records submitted for three attorneys, one paralegal, and one librarian totalled $18,121. Absent information about two attorneys’ experience—not provided—the court presumed them to be relatively new attorneys for whom a rate of $150 per hour was appropriate. The court also reduced the paralegal’s hourly rate from $80 to $75. In further revising the attorney fee calculation, the court reduced by half an associate attorney’s time spent reviewing the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and case law regarding service of process on a defendant located in a foreign country. Further observing that counsel sought to simultaneously effect Cold Spring’s deposit of funds and dismissal from the interpleader action by both stipulation and motion, the court reduced an attorney’s time by 9.4 hours as being duplicative.
