Free Declaration - District Court of Delaware - Delaware

Case 1:88-cv-00263-SLR

Document 371-9

Filed 11/06/2007

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Exhibit 7

Case 1:88-cv-00263-SLR

Document 371-9

Filed 11/06/2007

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF DELAWARE

NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL, INC., and DELAWARE AUDUBON SOCIETY, Plaintiffs, v. TEXACO REFINING AND MARKETING, INC., Defendant.

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Civil Action No. 88-263-SLR

DECLARATION OF F. MICHAEL PARKOWSKI IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' APPLICATION FOR ATTORNEYS' FEES I, F. Michael Parkowski, declare as follows: 1. I submit this declaration in relation to the fee application of plaintiffs

Natural Resources Defense Council ("NRDC") and Delaware Audubon Society. 2. I am a Director in Parkowski, Guerke, & Swayze, P.A., a Delaware

law firm. Before entering private practice in 1975, I served as Deputy Director for Enforcement at the U.S. EPA Region III Office in Philadelphia, and in the Delaware Attorney General's Office as a Deputy Attorney General and General

Case 1:88-cv-00263-SLR

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Counsel to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. 3. As a private practitioner, I serve as General Counsel to the

Delaware Solid Waste Authority, and represent a number of public and private clients in environmental matters. By appointment of the Governor, I serve as Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Delaware River & Bay Authority. I am also Chairman of the state Judicial Nominating Commission. I am a past President of the Delaware State Bar Association. I am a member in good standing of the Bar of the State of Delaware. 4. My law firm has offices in Wilmington, Dover and Georgetown,

Delaware. My practice is statewide. 5. I have been asked to give an opinion as to the reasonableness,

based on the Wilmington, Delaware market, of the hourly rates NRDC proposes in its motion to recover attorneys' fees in this matter. 6. The opinions I express are based on my personal knowledge of the

Wilmington, Delaware market for legal services similar to those NRDC provided to plaintiffs in this case. To inform my opinions, I have reviewed the biographies of all the NRDC attorneys who billed time on the matter, and have read plaintiffs' briefs and declarations in support of their motion to enforce the Court's judgments.

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7. Attorney

I understand that the plaintiffs request billing rates as follows: Years in Practice 28 24 9 5 5 3 2 Rate/Hour 550 475 300 250 250 225 200

Mitchell Bernard Nancy Marks Aaron Colangelo Benjamin Longstreth Amelia Toledo Thomas Cmar Dimple Chaudhary 8.

I am fully familiar with billing rates charged by my firm and I am

generally aware of the billing rates charged by larger firms in Delaware, including Wilmington, for comparable work in environmental law and litigation matters. 9. The above billing rates applied to NRDC attorneys are reasonable

relative to the Wilmington market. My review of the NRDC attorney biographies and plaintiffs' litigation papers reinforces my opinion. 10. I also understand that NRDC seeks recovery for a paralegal's time,

at the rate of $100 per hour. Based on my knowledge, this rate is reasonable for similar services rendered in the Wilmington, Delaware market.

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I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing statements are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief. Dated: October 31, 2007 Dover, Delaware /s/ F. Michael Parkowski, Esq.

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