If you have been following this case on AccountsRecovery.net for the past year or so, you’ve been sitting on the edge of your seat wondering just how much the judge was going to aware in attorney’s fees after sanctioning the plaintiff because any “reasonable party in Plaintiff’s circumstances would have known the allegations were demonstrably false and the claims based upon them frivolous.” Well, we have that number now. The judge has awarded the defendant every penny of the $76,705.37 that it asked for.
The background: The details of this case have been covered in previous posts, but in case you need a refresher or don’t want to go back and read them, here they are.
- The plaintiff filed suit against the defendant saying it was trying to collect on a $15,000 credit card account that she did not open, a claim she maintained through several legal proceedings and in reports filed with the Federal Trade Commission alleging her identity was stolen. She changed her tune when the defendant made available recordings of two phone calls between the plaintiff and the creditor where she admitted the account was hers. The plaintiff has not been able to explain why she forgot that the account was hers.
- In seeking to get to the bottom of the situation, the plaintiff was scheduled to be deposed, but neither her nor her attorney showed up. Defense counsel was there, though.
The ruling: The defendant said that $76,705.37 of fees and expenses were incurred during the course of defending itself in this lawsuit and Judge John K. Larkins III of the District Court for the Northern District of Georgia found “no issue” with that figure.
- The plaintiff neither objected to the hourly rates or number of hours the defense said it worked in connection with this case and did not offer any evidence that she lacks the finances to pay such an award, Judge Larkins noted.
