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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND
Greenbelt Division
RESPONSE TO DEFENDANT KIMBERLIN’S MOTION AND MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT
OF RULE 11 SANCTIONS AGAINST PLAINTIFF’S ATTORNEY DAN BACKER
*Admitted Pro Hac Vice on September 10, 2012
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
LEGAL STANDARD
ARGUMENT
I. Rule 11 Sanctions are Meritless and Warrant the Award of Attorney’s Fees
because Counsel Fully Investigated the Claims before Filing the Complaint;
Defendant Kimberlin is Attempting to Test the Sufficiency of the Claims
and Trying to Intimidate Counsel from Pursuing this Suit
II. Counsel Performed a Thorough Investigation, Deriving Evidence
Through Multiple and Varied Sources Before Filing The Complaint
III. Defendant Kimberlin’s Federalism Concern is a Straw Man Argument
IV. Defendant Kimberlin’s Claims of Harassment are His Usual Tactic to
Distract from His Own Bad Acts
A NOTE ON ETHICS
CONCLUSION
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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
Cases Page(s) Attorney Grievance Comm’n of Maryland v. Patterson
Brubaker v. City of Richmond
Dome Patent L.P. v Permeable Techs., Inc.
Fiberglass Insulators, Inc. v. Dupuy
Hunter v. Earthgrains Co. Bakery
In re Kunstler
In re Franklin Nat'l Bank
In re Sargent
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. Chiles Power Supply, Inc
Kraemer v. Grant County
La Vay Corp. v. Dominion Federal Sav. & Loan Asso.,
Lucas v. Duncan
Martindell v. Int’l Tel & Tel. Corp.
Morris v. Wachovia Sec., Inc.
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Palmieri v. New York
Codes, Regulations and Rules
Other Authorities
Kimberlin v. Walker
passim
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Preliminary Statement
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infra
Legal Standard
La Vay Corp. v. Dominion Federal Sav. & Loan Asso.,
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Seeid
Hunter v. Earthgrains Co. Bakery
In re Sargent
In re Sargent
Brubaker v. City of Richmond
Seeid
no Id.
Morris v. Wachovia Sec., Inc.
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Kraemer v. Grant County
In re
Kunstler
Id
Argument
Rule 11 Sanctions are Meritless and Warrant the Award of Attorney’s Fees because
Counsel Fully Investigated the Claims before Filing the Complaint; Defendant
Kimberlin is Attempting to Test the Sufficiency of the Claims and Trying to
Intimidate Counsel from Pursuing this Suit.
.” La Vay Corp.
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Id.
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Dome Patent L.P. v
Permeable Techs., Inc.
Lucas v. Duncan
infra
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Counsel Performed a Thorough Investigation, Deriving Evidence Through Multiple
and Varied Sources Before Filing The Complaint
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really
Id.
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Defendant Kimberlin’s Federalism Concern is a Straw Man Argument.
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Defendant Kimberlin’s Claims of Harassment are His Usual Tactic to Distract from
His Own Bad Acts.
See, e.g., Kimberlin v.
Walker
supra,
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A Note on Ethics
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See
Id.
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Seealso
Id.
See, e.g., Martindell v. Int’l Tel &
Tel. Corp.
Id.
See
See also Attorney Grievance Comm’n of Maryland v. Patterson
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See
i.e.
SeeGoodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v.
Chiles Power Supply, Inc Palmieri v. New York
); In re Franklin Nat'l Bank
Fiberglass Insulators, Inc. v. Dupuy
See e.g.
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Conclusion
Relief Requested
*Admitted Pro Hac Vice on September 10, 2012
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND
Greenbelt Division ____________________________________
)AARON WALKER )
)Plaintiff, )
)v. ) Civil Case No. JFM-12-1852
)BRETT KIMBERLIN, )JUSTICE THROUGH MUSIC, ) Billing Declaration VELVET REVOLUTION, all above )Defendants are located at )8100 Beech Tree Road, Bethesda, MD )Montgomery County AND )The Proprietors of the website “Breitbart’ )Unmasked )
)Defendant. )
____________________________________)
BILLING DECLARATION OF PLAINTIFF’S ATTORNEY DAN BACKER
Under penalty of perjury, I, Dan Backer, declare as follows:
1. I am writing this declaration to support the Response To Defendant Kimberlin’s Motion andMemorandum In Support Of Rule 11 Sanctions Against Plaintiff’s Attorney Dan Backer.(“Motion”).
2. I, and attorneys I directly and personally supervise, spent 68.75 total hours in the preparation anddrafting with respect this Motion. While billing judgment has been exercised, a substantialamount of time was necessary to properly research and reply to this frivolous and vexatiousMotion.
3. I am assessing my fees at $183.73 per hour, which is the statutory rate under the Equal Access toJustice Act (“EAJA”), 28 U.S.C. § 2412 (d)(2)(A). See also Thangaraja v. Gonzales, 428 F.3d870, 876-77 (9th Cir. 2005). While less than my hourly billing rate or that of the attorneys Isupervise, this is the rate that I would typically seek to recover in my principle area of practiceunder this statute where, as here, I am not billing the client. Having found no direct guidance onthis matter within the Rules or case precedent, I, of course, do not object if the Court determinesthis rate to be in excess of that typically awarded with respect to this type of matter.
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4. At a rate of $183.73 per hour, this amounts to a total of $12,631.44 in Attorney’s fees. Thisamount does not include time for which billing judgment was exercised. An itemized statement
of the time I spent on the case, and that of those attorneys I directly and personally supervised, based on my contemporaneous time records is attached to this Declaration.
5. I declare, under penalty of perjury, that the foregoing facts are true and correct to the best of myknowledge, and that any expressions of opinion are based on my best professional judgment.
November 27, 2012
Respectfully submitted,
_________/s/_______________________ Dan Backer, Esq.*209 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Suite 2109Washington, DC 20003(202) [email protected]
Attorney for Plaintiffs
*Admitted Pro Hac Vice on September 10, 2012
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Summary of Hours For Rule 11 Sanctions Motion in Walker v. Kimberlin et al.
Clients: Aaron Walker
Date Activity Time Attorney
10/31/2012 Researched case law about Fed. R. Civ. P. 11 6.25 S
11/1/2012 Conducted further research into Rule 11 including local rules. 6.75 S
11/2/2012Discussed Implications of Defendant Kimberlin’s threat to file Rule 11motion 2.0 P & S
11/2/2012 Conducted Further Research into case law of standard on Rule 11 motion 2.25 S
11/5/2012 Began outlining response to Rule 11 motion 6.75 S
11/6/2012 Discussed possible ethical violations of Mr. Cohen in writing Rule 11 motion 3.0 P & S
11/7/2012 Continued outlining Rule 11 motion breaking up sections 6.5 S
11/8/2012 Drafted final Outline of Rule 11 motion 6.0 S
11/9/2012 Discussed Outline 3.0 P &S
11/12/2012 Discussed legal strategy 2.5 P & S
11/13/2012 Began drafting Response 7.0 S
11/14/2012 Continued drafting Response 6.75 S
11/15/2012 Discussed progress on Response and changes 4.0 P & S
11/16/2012 Finalized first draft of Response 6.0 S
TOTAL TIME 68.75
P = Principal AttorneyS = Subordinate Attorney
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