Free Affidavit - District Court of Connecticut - Connecticut

Case 3:01-cv-01967-RNC

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT _______________________________________ LEWIS C. BROWN Plaintiff vs. EXPERIAN INFORMATION SOLUTIONS INC. Defendant _______________________________________ ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

Case No. 3:01CV1967 (RNC)

April 30, 2004

AFFIDAVIT OF ZENAS ZELOTES ESQ.

STATE OF CONNECTICUT COUNTY OF NEW LONDON

: : ss. New London :

I, Zenas Zelotes, Esq., being duly sworn, hereby state under oath that: 1. I am over eighteen years of age, and I believe in the obligations of an oath. 2. I am the founder and equity attorney of Zenas Zelotes LLC, a private law office that focuses its practice upon consumer litigation and bankruptcy. 3. I have had sole responsibility for this file from its inception. 4. It is my practice to make contemporaneous records of work performed on client matters, including the amount of time required and a description of the work. These entries are then entered into my office's computer billing program.

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5. The billing statement attached to this affidavit is a true copy of the statement generated by my office's billing program and provides an accurate accounting of the work performed incurred in this case. 6. I have reviewed all of the billing entries in this matter. In some instances, I have taken some or all of the time associated with various tasks and reclassified them as "no charge" entries. I have made these changes in the few instances where the work was of a clerical nature. 7. A total of 596.3 hours have been expended in this case (exclusive of "no charge" hours). I have designated 7.1 hours as "no-charge." 8. The billing statement reflects that the total value of my work reasonably performed in this case is $134,167.50, which number is arrived at by applying the requested lodestar rate ($225/hr). 9. I have calculated my expense to be $1,737.00. This expense reflects my actual cost. This expense does not reflect in my billing records as it is not my standard office practice to record such expense as part of a contemporaneous record but, rather, to calculate such cost at the conclusion of a matter (based upon considerations of administrative efficiency). 10. My work history (experience) is as follows: I was a news correspondent in the United States Marine Corps from 1992-1997. I enrolled at the University of Iowa College of Law in 1997, graduating (with distinction) in 2000. I began developing my subject-matter expertise in consumer litigation in 1999 upon joining the National Association of Consumer Advocates. I am admitted in Nevada (September 2000) and Connecticut (May 2001). I clerked briefly for the Connecticut Superior Court (while awaiting admission) and opened my litigation practice in

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August 2001. While awaiting Connecticut admission, I concurrently engaged in an intense library study of general trial and consumer litigation methodology, which has since continued to present date. 11. I have litigated (or settled) dozens of consumer cases filed under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Truth in Lending Act, and Fair Credit Reporting Act. I regularly litigate in both state and federal courts. 12. Upon review of affidavit by fellow counsel, I have verified that the rates routinely charged by other equity attorneys in this district practicing consumer litigation: Bernard Kennedy, $325/hr; Michael Kennedy, $325/hr; Joanne Faulkner, $300/hr. Daniel Blinn, $300/hr. 13. Given my ability, training, tenacity and expertise in handling consumer claims, it is my opinion that the requested lodestar rate of $225 for my time is reasonable. The rate arrived at strikes a middle balance between general prevailing market rates for associate and senior counsel (@ $175 and $275/ hr., respectively) and well below that routinely assessed within the field. 14. As equity counsel, I have full responsibility for the legal affairs, management, organization, marketing, financial obligations and expansion of my practice. As equity counsel, I am daily reminded that the practice of law is the practice of business. My day-to-day responsibilities are both extensive and comprehensive. The success (or failure) of my person is inexorably tied to the occasions of my practice. 15. It is my considered opinion that an attorney's fee of $135,904.50 (inclusive of expense) is reasonable and fair, to the date of this affidavit, for the work performed ... and the excellent results obtained.

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TIMESHEETS

5

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Zenas Zelotes LLC Document 162 Filed 04/30/2004 Matter Notes

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Page 1

Case Number 1236

When

Time

Note

04/29/04 11:40a 180 minutes: Major overhaul of fee petition memo; tighten & redact majority for possible use as reply memo (tactical consideration) 04/29/04 9:37a 5 minutes: Fee Petition, Affidavit & Memo 04/28/04 9:53p 412 minutes: Fee Petition, Affidavit & Memo 04/27/04 10:22p 420 minutes: Fee Petition, Affidavit & Memo 04/26/04 3:06p 40 Minutes: reviewing litigation correspondince between parties' cousenl 04/23/04 10:14p 240 minutes: Fee Petition, Affidavit & Memo 04/23/04 7:38p 140 minutes: researhing lodestar caselaw; ditto law of contingency multipliers; drafting and outlining fee petition 04/22/04 4:00p 71 minutes: Fee Petition, Affidavit & Memo 04/16/04 8:14a 720 minutes: travel to and from Courthouse; attendence at trial; post-trial meeting with McLoon at Robinson & Cole; post-trial meeting with clients 04/15/04 8:21p 660 minutes: travel to and from courthouse / participation at trial / trial preparation for next day's trial 04/14/04 6:34p 660 minutes: travel to and from and attendance at trial; early a.m. preparations; preparation for next-day's trial 04/13/04 8:34p 600 minutes: travel to and from jury selection; jury selection; confer with client to review exhibits and testimony; teleconference with McLoon; last-minute trial preparation 04/12/04 9:59p 40 minutes: Organizing for departure 04/12/04 9:19p 24 minutes: Dry Read of Hughes 04/12/04 9:02p 11 minutes: rehearse and time Smaniotto 04/12/04 8:50p 129 Minutes: General Trial Prep 04/12/04 6:17p 60 minutes: Preparing trial materials 04/12/04 5:00p 20 minutes: draft some of the proposed questionairre changes in accord with instructions from chambers; discuss with Dan; teleconference with chambers 04/12/04 3:38p 13 minutes: Conference with Chambers 04/12/04 3:24p 13 minutes: Preparing Trial script 04/12/04 3:11p 37 minutes: Teleconference with Parties, and then jointly with both Chambers 04/12/04 1:58p 20 minutes: Draft Closing Outline for possible trial referrence 04/12/04 1:31p 90 minutes: Annotating journal notes; inform Arun of exhibit errors and send Arun corrected exhibits in pdf format 04/12/04 10:00a 120 minutes: practice and brainstorm opening and closing arguments while en-route to hartford to hand-file amended complaint and proposed jury instruction 04/11/04 11:19p 390 minutes: Trial prep & supplemental jury instruction (principal focus: impeachment of Browne; reviewing and cross-checking defendant's computer codes) 04/10/04 10:00p 300 Minutes: preparing impeachment materials & plan / working on elements of closing argument / trial notebooks 04/09/04 8:36p 180 minutes: developing & practicing opening argument; planning 04/09/04 5:30p 30 minutes: Call to Lewis to discuss new questions

04/29/04 12:23p

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Case Number (continued)

When

Time

Note following a review of evidence (Lewis' journal notes & two-year correspondence); discuss exhibits 60 Minutes: Design, layout and plan demonstrative exhibits at print shop 45 minutes: Identifying Demonstrative Evidence for Enlargements; Call Arun to Inform of Selections 8 Minutes: Call from and to Aurn 60 minutes: Outlining opening argument 90 minutes: review Lewis' journal notes and correspodence 10 minutes: Teleconference with Dan and then Court 68 Minutes: Conference with Aurn about stipulated Fleet testimony excerpts, demonstrative exhibits and trial notebooks; joint teleconference with court personel from both chambers re proposed jury selection before Judge Martinez (Martinez & Chatigny) 3 minutes: Call from chambers; Relay e-mail message to Experain 30 minutes; Memorialize Stipulations; send to Arun for confirmation; Copy Lewis with all recent Memoranda 15 minutes: Call to Lewis 4 minutes: Call from Arun 20 minutes: Letter to Dan and Arun about conference and using exhibit duplicates at trial 10 minutes: Legal research 4 minutes: Call to Chambers re: inform of stipulated agreements 54 minutes: Depo designations agreed upon: Hughes and Browne 12 minutes: Call to Arun 115 minutes: Review Fleet Deposition, identify & Extract Deposition Excerpts; Wrapping up Chatigny correspondence and Fleet 4/6/4 motion; final review & edits 75 minutes: Composing letter to Judge Chatigny 13 minutes: Discuss subpoena with Fleet 200 minutes: Assembling and drafting 4/6/4 motions & exhibits 30 minutes: Motion & memo to determine efficacy of subpoenas 180 minutes: Drafting Motion and memo in support of introducing designated Hughes and Browne deposition excepts into evidence 58 Minutes: letters to Dan and Arun about Subpoena power; respond to letter from Dan objecting to testimony excerpts 6 minutes: Calls to Fleet trying to attempt to discern position on subpoena 40 minutes: Draft & fax correspondence to Dan & Aurn about delay in Objecting to or concurring in deposition excerpts 42 minutes: Call to Arun about Jury Questionairre and Experian Subpeona 185 minutes: Working on discovery objections reply memo

04/09/04 04/09/04

5:00p 2:55p

04/09/04 12:31p 04/09/04 10:00a 04/08/04 11:00p 04/08/04 4:09p 04/08/04 12:21p

04/08/04 04/07/04 04/07/04 04/07/04 04/07/04 04/07/04 04/07/04 04/07/04 04/07/04 04/06/04

7:45a 8:43p 6:17p 5:55p 3:46p 3:24p 3:14p 3:08p 2:14p 9:53p

04/06/04 04/06/04 04/06/04

6:34p 4:53p 3:32p

04/06/04 12:04a 04/05/04 11:30p 04/05/04 04/05/04 04/05/04 04/05/04 04/05/04 3:20p 2:20p 2:15p 1:36p 1:35a

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Case Number (continued)

When 04/04/04 04/04/04 04/04/04 04/04/04 04/03/04

Time

Note

04/02/04 04/02/04 04/02/04 04/02/04 04/02/04 04/02/04 04/02/04 04/02/04 04/02/04 04/02/04

04/01/04 04/01/04 04/01/04 04/01/04 03/31/04 03/31/04 03/31/04 03/31/04 03/30/04

03/30/04 03/30/04

9:52p 140 minutes: Working on Juror Questionairre; Discuss Questions with Lewis; Research scholarship on Jury Questioning 7:16p 87 minutes: researching juror and county demographics (principally U.S. census data for county subdivsions) 4:24p 80 minutes: Jury Profiling; Jury Research 3:04p 135 minutes: Discussing case strategy, concerns and developments with Lewis 3:20p 110 minutes: Refining transcript selections and drafting proposed stipulations (both on McLoon's reccomendation); send revisions to McLoon and Chandra via e-mail 5:44p 11 minutes: Call to Arun 5:33p 11 minutes: Trial prep 5:22p 42 minutes: reviewing Fleet (Smaniotto) deposition in advance of trial and endeavoring to identify candidate excerpts for use in direct 4:33p 55 minutes: Endeavoring to revise proposed deposition transcript edits in accord with preliminary reccomendations from McLoon 3:37p 10 minutes: Correspondence to Dan re: Depo Edits 3:27p 30 minutes; Trial Prep 2:57p 12 minutes: ** NO CHARGE ** Securing hard copy of Hughes deposition transcript 2:43p 22 minutes: Call to Arun about questionairre 2:43p 12 Minutes: Fiddling with Arun's proposed questionairre 1:33p 270 Minutes: Finish review of Hughes and Browne Depositions for inclusion as direct evidence; draft summary letter to Jones Day & send electronic documents to McLoon & Chandra 7:29p 330 minutes: Reviewing evidence & preparing revised & updated proof charts 11:40a 30 minutes: Call to Lisa Balent (Fleet in-house counsel) about Fleet subpoena & compelling attendence at trial 11:09a 90 minutes: Reviewing Browne Depo in advance of trial and working to identify candidate excerpts for use at trial on direct 9:23a 30 minutes: Addressing issues relating to subpoenas to Fleet & Experian; calls to Fleet; Correspodence to Arun 9:23p 120 minutes: General trial planning 3:32p 110 minutes: Researching subpoena, parent-subsidiary jurisdiction, and compelling defendant's tesimony 3:32p 5 minutes: Review Experian Objections to Evidence (Reply memo) 10:41a 120 minutes: Continued review of Experian (Hughes) deposition for transcript identifications 5:12p 150 minutes: reviewing Experian deposition testimony (Hughes) in advance of trial and identifying initial proposed testimony excerpts for use at trial on direct 3:44p 2 minutes: Call from Arun 3:37p 12 minutes: Call to Arun about opening argument &

04/29/04 12:23p

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Case Number (continued)

When

Time

Note introducing deposition testimony direct into evidence & adding corresponding evidence to evidence list 28 minutes: Conference with Joanne Faulker re: trial strategy 10 minutes: Communicate to Experian Willingness to Discuss Possible "High-Low" Trial Settlement (Experian rejected) 10 minutes: e-mail correpsondence to, from, and to McLoon 31 minutes: Call from Lisa Balent (in-house counsel to Fleet Credit Card Services LP) about subpoena power and trial issues 3 minutes: Return Call from Lisa Balent (Fleet) @ 215 444-6852 20 minutes: Confer with Blinn re: trial strategy 6 minutes: Call-Back from Arun about Jury Questionairre 35 Minutes: Call from Arun about jury Questionairre and Trial Testimony Issues 15 minutes: Subpoena Fleet; correspondence to Fleet's counsel; calls to bank 30 Minutes: Investigating and researching possible defenses to defendant's contemplated switching of 30b6 witnesses (Helms for Hughes) 210 Minutes: Travel to and Participation at Woehrle Depo; brief meeting with Mary prior to deposition 8 minutes: Call from Lewis about Deposition 5 minutes: Correspondence to Arun about Call from Smaniotto's counsel 3 minutes: Call from Fleet's Counsel 9 minutes: Call from Aurn 20 minutes: Call from Arun about Smaniotto 5 Minutes: e-mails w/Arun re: compelling Fleet's trial attendance 6 minutes: Call Smaniotto's Attorney's, Leave Message / Field Retrun Call 120 Minutes: Deposition Preparation with Mary at Office 27 minutes: Call to lewis about upcoming deposition; discuss case 5 minutes: Correspond with Arun re depo / review depo notice 70 minutes: Researching case law on quashing deposition notices for use in memo; revise memo; cover letter to judge 6 minutes: Reply to Arun Depo Correspondence 5 minutes: Call from Arun; return call 3 minutes: Review opposition motion to motion to quash 10 minutes: working on discovery objections memo 40 minutes: draft protective order & motion 60 minutes: convert notes & submit objections to discovery objections 255 minutes: Meet with witnesses; review testimony; review documents with witnesses; answer witness questions; prepare for witness conference

03/30/04

3:19p

03/30/04 10:16a 03/29/04 03/29/04 03/29/04 03/29/04 03/29/04 03/29/04 6:44p 6:15p 5:33p 5:30p 4:13p 3:58p

03/27/04 11:00a 03/27/04 10:20a 03/27/04 9:49a

03/25/04 2:15p 03/25/04 10:31a 03/25/04 10:31a 03/24/04 3:48p 03/24/04 2:55p 03/24/04 11:38a 03/24/04 10:28a 03/21/04 03/18/04 03/17/04 03/12/04 1:55p 5:17p 5:26p 1:49p

03/12/04 10:05a 03/09/04 3:43p 03/09/04 12:01p 03/04/04 03/04/04 03/04/04 03/04/04 7:09p 6:22p 6:03p 1:11p

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Case Number (continued)

When

Time

Note

03/03/04 12:16p 5 minutes: e-mail to Arun confirming position 03/03/04 11:39a 12 minutes: Call from Mary; Mary will return to CT for trial; to Arun about Mary's Travel to CT and trial availability; debate if deposition goes forward 03/03/04 9:56a 17 minutes: Call to Mary about scheduling depo date; talk to Lewis (at Mary's); e-mail to Arun confirming date 03/01/04 11:25a 5 minutes: Reply to Arun E-mail re: Objections to proposed jury instructions 03/01/04 10:44a 18 minutes: Drafting detailed e-mail response reciting my objections to the defendant's proposed questionairre 02/29/04 5:26p 6 minutes: review questions on reverse of Experian's proposed questionairre; e-mail to Arun about questions on reverse side of proposed juror questionairre 02/26/04 3:54p 5 minutes: Correspondence w/ Arun 02/10/04 2:33p 14 minutes: Call to Lewis about Depo arrangements 02/05/04 4:45p 3 minutes: Call from Arun 02/05/04 4:10p 6 minutes: Call to Arun about Woerhle depo 02/05/04 3:57p 33 minutes: Brief Lewis on results of meeting, where we go from here, talk to Mary Woerhle about upcoming deposition 02/05/04 2:34p 39 minutes: Pretrial Conference with Court 02/05/04 1:55p 309 minutes: Preparing for pretrial conference / research, plan and rebut defendant's objections to evidence 02/04/04 6:08p 12 minutes: Call to Mary Winchell about Conitnuance issues 02/04/04 5:50p 2 minutes: Review Jones Day correspondence 02/03/04 5:55p 3 hours: Opposition to Continuance 02/03/04 2:57p 22 minutes: Draft memorialization of Mcloon teleconference 02/03/04 2:57p 5 minutes: Call to Arun about memorializing McLoon teleconference 02/03/04 2:08p 55 minutes: teleconference w/ McLoon 02/03/04 12:21p 4 minutes: Call to Meaney's Office; Talk w/ staff 02/03/04 10:44a 20 minutes: correspondence to McLoon & Chandra 02/02/04 7:48p 15 minutes: Call to Szwak about Continance matters 02/02/04 12:37p 17 minutes: Telephone Szwak's Office about Pace, Ben. & Morley Cases (Impeachment) 01/27/04 2:32p 3 minutes: Call to McLoon 01/27/04 2:32p 15 minutes: Outline plan on 16c 01/27/04 10:44a 5 Minutes: Call from Staci Broad (Fleet) re Smaniotto Testimony at trial 01/26/04 7:29p 400 minutes: General trial preperation; planning 01/22/04 1:00p 25 minutes: Discuss trial schedule with Mary and Lewis & Mary's Role at Trial 01/22/04 10:30a 5 minutes: Call to court about jury selection 01/19/04 9:46a 5 minutes: Notice depo 01/08/04 1:00p 5 minutes: Call to Chambers 01/04/04 10:23p 360 M. Objections to motions in limine; Objection to continuance; confer w/ client and Jones Day

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Zenas Zelotes LLC

Shaw's Cove 5, Suite 202 Tel. (860) 442-2265 / Fax. (860) 439-0295

COMMERCIAL LITIGATION & PLANNING

Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue Attn: Daniel J. McLoon 555 West 5th Street, Suite 4600 Los Angeles CA 90012-1025 4/30/04

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

Zenas Zelotes LLC

Shaw's Cove 5, Suite 202 Tel. (860) 442-2265 / Fax. (860) 439-0295

COMMERCIAL LITIGATION & PLANNING

The undersigned counsel certifies that a copy of the document(s) attached was served upon each addressee by USPS first class mail (or inhand service) on the date(s) reflected.

4/30/2004 United States District Court Attn: Clerk of Court 450 Main Street Hartford CT 06103

4/30/04

_____________________________________ ZENAS ZELOTES, ESQ. Zenas Zelotes LLC Shaw's Cove 5, Suite 202 New London CT 06320 Conn. Juris No. 419408 // Fed, Bar No. 23001 Tel: (860) 442-2265 // Fax: (860) 439-0295

Zenas Zelotes LLC
Shaw's Cove 5, Suite 202 Tel. (860) 442-2265 / Fax. (860) 439-0295

COMMERCIAL LITIGATION & PLANNING

United States District Court Attn: Chambers (Chatigny J.) 450 Main Street Hartford CT 06103 4/30/04