The opinion
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
CASE NO. 21-24475-CV-WILLIAMS
CHRISTOPHER SADOWSKI,
Plaintiff,
v.
ORION HEALTHCARE
SERVICES, INC.,
Defendant.
/
ORDER
THIS MATTER is before the Court on Magistrate Judge Chris M. McAliley’s Report
and Recommendation (“Report”) on Plaintiff Christopher Sadowski’s (“Plaintiff”) Motion
for Default Judgment (“Motion”) against Defendant Orion Healthcare Services, Inc.
(“Defendant”) (DE 10). (DE 19.) In the Motion, Plaintiff requests that the Court enter final
default judgment against Defendant; award Plaintiff $15,000.00 in statutory damages and
$2,512.00 in attorneys’ fees and costs; and permanently enjoin Defendant from infringing
activities. (DE 10.) In the Report, Judge McAliley recommends that the Court grant in part
and deny in part Plaintiff’s Motion. (DE 19 at 13.) Specifically, Judge McAliley
recommends that the Court enter final default judgment against Defendant; grant Plaintiff
$4,500.00 in statutory damages and $2,213.00 in attorneys’ fees and costs; and
permanently enjoin Defendant from infringing activities. (Id.) Plaintiff filed objections to
the Report. (DE 20.)
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The Court must make a de novo determination of any portions of a report and
recommendation to which a party objects. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C). Plaintiff objected only
to Judge McAliley’s finding that Attorney Daniel DeSouza’s (“Mr. DeSouza”) hourly rate
was unreasonable and recommendation that it be reduced from $450.00 to $385.00.1 (DE
20.) “The first step in computing a reasonable fee is to determine the lodestar, which is
the product of the number of hours reasonably worked by a lawyer and a reasonable
hourly rate.” Dillard v. City of Greensboro, 213 F.3d 1347, 1354 (11th Cir. 2000) (citation
omitted). The reasonable hourly rate is “[t]he prevailing market rate in the relevant legal
community for similar services by lawyers of reasonably comparable skills, experience,
and reputation.” Gray v. Lockheed Aeronautical Sys. Co., 125 F.3d 1387, 1389 (11th Cir.
1997) (quoting Norman v. Hous. Auth. of Montgomery, 836 F.2d 1292, 1299 (11th Cir.
1988)). The relevant market is where the case is filed. Am. Civil Liberties Union of Ga. v.
Barnes, 168 F.3d 423, 437 (11th Cir. 1999) (quoting Cullens v. Georgia Dep’t. of Transp.,
29 F.3d 1489, 1494 (11th Cir. 1994)).
To support his position that $450.00 is a reasonable hourly rate, Mr. DeSouza filed
a declaration. (DE 10-2.) In his declaration, Mr. DeSouza states that he is one of two
principal shareholders at his firm, CopyCat Legal PLLC, which specializes in copyright
infringement and is representing Plaintiff in this action. (Id. ¶ 2.) Mr. DeSouza has been a
licensed attorney since 2005,2 and his practice has “principally focused on
1 Judge McAliley concluded that the total time Mr. DeSouza expended on this matter (4.6
hours) was reasonable. (DE 19 at 13.)
2 Mr. DeSouza has been a member of the New York Bar since 2005 and the Florida Bar
since 2006. (Id.)
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business/complex commercial and intellectual property litigation.” (Id. at ¶¶ 2, 4.) And Mr.
DeSouza is admitted to at least sixteen (16) federal courts and has served as counsel of
record in approximately 150 federal court and more than 250 state court lawsuits in
Florida and New York. (Id. at ¶¶ 3–4.) In further support of his position, Mr. DeSouza cites
to numerous decisions in the Middle and Southern Districts of Florida where courts
concluded that $450 was a reasonable hourly rate for attorneys with similar experience
and qualifications to Mr. DeSouza.
Having evaluated the reasonableness of Mr. DeSouza’s hourly rate de novo, the
Court agrees with Plaintiff that $450.00 is a reasonable hourly rate considering the
prevailing market rate and Mr. DeSouza’s experience and qualifications. See Affordable
Aerial Photography, Inc. v. Elegance Transportation, Inc., 2022 WL 2306182, at *11 (M.D.
Fla. Feb. 23, 2022), report and recommendation adopted, 2022 WL 2306516 (M.D. Fla.
Mar. 14, 2022) (finding attorney’s rate of $450/hour in copyright case reasonable where
attorney was one of two principal shareholders at his firm, specialized in copyright
infringement, and has been a member of the Florida bar since 2006)3; Palm Partners,
LLC v. Netnames A/S, 2018 WL 4208348, at *3 (S.D. Fla. July 20, 2018), report and
recommendation adopted, 2018 WL 4208339 (S.D. Fla. Aug. 30, 2018) (holding that
attorney’s rate of $425/hour was reasonable where attorney was a shareholder and had
over fourteen years of experience litigating intellectual property matters in federal court);
Bork v. Tran Huong Quynh, 2020 WL 6366189, at *2 (M.D. Fla. Oct. 14, 2020), report and
recommendation adopted, 2020 WL 6363847 (M.D. Fla. Oct. 29, 2020) (concluding that
3 In Affordable Aerial Photography, Mr. DeSouza was the lawyer whose time and hourly
rate was the subject of the reasonableness analysis. Id.
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attorney’s rate of $450/hour was reasonable where attorney had been admitted to the
Florida bar ten (10) years prior, was Board Certified in Intellectual Property, and was a
registered patent attorney); cf. Maner v. Linkan LLC, 602 Fed. App’x 489, 493 (11th Cir.
2015) (stating that the district court “is itself an expert on the question [of reasonable
hourly rates in the local market] and may consider its own knowledge and experience . .
. and may form an independent judgment either with or without the aid of witnesses as to
value”) (quoting Loranger v. Stierheim, 10 F.3d 776, 781 (11th Cir. 1994)).
Accordingly, upon an independent review of the Report, the record, and applicable
case law, it is ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that:
1. The Report (DE 19) is AFFIRMED AND ADOPTED IN PART.
2. Plaintiff’s Motion for Default Judgment (DE 10) is GRANTED IN PART AND
DENIED IN PART, as follows:
a. Plaintiff’s request for default judgment against Defendant is GRANTED.
b. Plaintiff shall recover $4,500.00 in statutory damages pursuant to 17
U.S.C. § 504(c)(1).
c. Plaintiff shall recover 2,512.00 in attorneys’ fees and costs pursuant to
17 U.S.C. § 505.
d. Plaintiff’s request for a permanent injunction against Defendant is
GRANTED.
The Court will separately enter an order of final default judgment.
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DONE AND ORDERED in Chambers in Miami, Florida, on this 21st day of March,
2023.
KATHLEEW M. WILLIAMS
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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