Cohan v. NARBONA AT BOCA RATON, LLC, 9:24-cv-80007

Plaintiff Howard Cohan filed a complaint alleging that Defendant Narbona at Boca Raton, LLC violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
After being served, Defendant failed to respond or defend the case, resulting in a default judgment granting injunctive relief to Plaintiff.
Plaintiff subsequently moved for attorneys’ fees and costs as a prevailing party under the ADA; Defendant did not respond to this motion.
Plaintiff sought $3,317.50 in attorneys' fees and $2,370.00 in costs, including fees for attorney, legal assistant, and litigation expenses like an expert fee, filing fee, process server, and incidental costs.
The court evaluated the reasonableness of hourly rates, the number of hours billed, and the recoverability of costs and litigation expenses.
The magistrate judge recommends granting Plaintiff $3,189.50 in attorneys’ fees and $1,960.00 in taxable costs and expenses, for a total of $5,149.50.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Entitlement to attorneys' fees	Cohan was a prevailing party and thus entitled	No response	Entitled as prevailing party under ADA
Reasonableness of attorney rate	$375/hour for attorney; $175/hour for assistant	No response	$375/hour for attorney; reduced assistant to $95
Reasonableness of hours billed	All hours reasonably expended	No response	All hours allowed as reasonable
Recoverability of costs and expenses	All expenses, including expert fee, recoverable	No response	Expert fee reduced, some minor costs denied

Buckhannon Bd. & Care Home, Inc. v. W. Va. Dep't of Health & Human Res., 532 U.S. 598 (prevailing party must obtain some relief on the merits for fee award)
Christiansburg Garment Co. v. EEOC, 434 U.S. 412 (fee awards to prevailing plaintiffs obligatory absent special circumstances)
Norman v. Housing Auth. of Montgomery, 836 F.2d 1292 (establishes lodestar method for calculating reasonable attorneys' fees)