ST. LOUIS — Fox Associates, owners of the Fabulous Fox Theatre, have been ordered to pay more than $100,000 to plaintiffs for fees accrued in a recent lawsuit against them.
U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry, of the Eastern District Court of Missouri, ruled on June 29 that Fox Associates owed $97,920.00 in attorney fees and $2528.81 in expenses to plaintiff Maria Childress.
Childress and friend Mary Stodden filed an action against Fox in June 2016, stating it violated Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Both defendants are deaf and claim the Fabulous Fox Theatre treated non-deaf patrons differently. The case was granted summary judgment by Perry in April.
The defendants’ attorney, John Frazier Waldo, Jr., filed time logs demonstrating he worked approximately 223 hours on the case, at an hourly rate of $450 per hour.
Fox took issue with Waldo’s hourly request, stating it was excessive and citing their lower attorney fees as an example.
Perry stated that although Fox’s counsel was capable and ran a respected practice, they lacked Waldo’s experience. Waldo has more than 30 years litigation expertise, 10 of which focus solely on rights for the deaf or hearing impaired.
She also said the hourly amount requested by Waldo was reasonable when compared to average attorney rates in the St. Louis area.
“I find Waldo’s profferred rate of $450 per hour to be reasonable for the work performed,” Perry said.
Fox also objected to the number of hours billed by Waldo, stating they too were excessive. Again, they cited their own counsel time record, which was substantially less.
“I have carefully reviewed Waldo’s time records and find the entries to satisfactorily document the time Waldo expended in this action,” Perry said.
As for the amount requested by the plaintiffs for expenses incurred, Fox did not object to paying the approximately $2,528.