Man presses IPI for $57.4K in attorney’s fees and costs

A former employee of Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC who sued IPI in 2019 in the U.S. District Court for the NMI filed a petition Wednesday for the fourth time for IPI to pay his attorney’s fees and to shoulder the cost for the time spent for filing the motion.

Joshua Gray wants IPI to pay his attorney’s fees—a cost of $56,955—as well as $400.75 for filing the motion.

Gray “seeks fees for 180.3 hours of attorney work, 123 hours for Mr. [Bruce] Berline and 57.3 hours for Mr. [William] Fitzgerald” for a total sum of $56,955, not including the $400.75 fee for filing this petition.

The reasonable hourly rate determined for Fitzgerald is $350 and Berline is $300, which Gray is asking for.

IPI’s failure to comply therefore requires them to pay Gray’s attorney’s Bruce Berline and William Fitzgerald which begins with “the drafting of a Status Report that was filed [by Gray] on April 7, 2021.”

The next billing event was for May 3, 2021, when Gray filed two motions against IPI which were “motion for determination of defendant IPI’s waiver of privilege and IPI’s motion for reconsideration of entry of default,” brought to court on June 3, 2021.

The final billing event for this petition was made on Sept. 30, 2021. According to Saipan Tribune archives, “Berline filed a motion requesting the court to issue an order to show cause against IPI for violating the court’s order. Berline stated in his motion that over the span of more than one year, IPI has disobeyed multiple discovery orders resulting in the court finding IPI in contempt twice.” 

In all, “the undertaking required to draft the documents for the plaintiff’s motion for waiver of privilege and to respond to IPI’s two motions to vacate the entry of default judgment was extensive and time consuming. The work needed to draft the documents required a tremendous amount of research as well as extensive review of prior filings and court transcripts.” 

“IPI must pay Gray attorney’s fees and costs for having to litigate the motion to vacate, the prior motion for reconsideration, the motion for privilege, as well as any fees and costs resulting from IPI’s failure to comply with discovery orders not previously awarded.

Gray sued IPI for alleged immigration violations, wrongful failure to hire, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.