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Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron. Photo: Rick Kopstein/NYLJ[/caption] A Manhattan judge has slashed Greenberg Traurig’s $464,164 fee request by 62 percent in a co-op-tenant lawsuit, writing he was “troubled, almost haunted, by the idea of awarding almost half a million dollars to attorneys who simply prevailed upon a court to dismiss an untimely proceeding.” In a decision punctuated with feisty commentary, such as writing the fee request could be viewed as “highway robbery without the six-gun,” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron called on the legal profession and fellow judges to cut down on astronomical fee awards. “Fees are zooming out of control, and courts should not be complacent; rather, we should be on the front line, not the sideline, leading the charge to keep them reasonable (keeping in mind the considerable costs of running a law practice),” the judge said. “To focus solely on [Greenberg Traurig’s] rates and hours would be to miss the forest for the trees.” The judge's comments arose in a suit brought by five residents of a housing complex on the Lower East Side, Seward Park Housing Corp., who were upset over a decision by the co-op’s board to switch to a valet parking system. The residents filed an Article 78 Petition, seeking to annul the board’s decision. After dueling motions, Engoron in July 2017 dismissed the case for untimeliness, while addressing other arguments raised by Greenberg Traurig, representing the co-op. Afterward, a special referee, Louis Crespo, recommended that the co-op parties be awarded $161,000 in legal fees, reflecting deductions for alleged double billing, lack of complexity, and failure to use more associates rather than partners. In deciding to award just slightly more than Crespo's recommendation, Engoron first contemplated the dueling "perspectives" inspired by the firm's request. On one hand, it “is shocking and disturbing,” he wrote, “that a law firm is asking for the staggering sum of $464,164 to have prevailed upon a court to dismiss as untimely a relatively straightforward” petition filed by middle-class tenants. He added, “Such an outrageous figure sounds like a typographical error or an April Fool’s joke; if it is not, it merits ‘fee shaming,’ public humiliation, and possible sanctions. For such egregious overreaching, a court could, and maybe should, award nothing." After all, he said, these days, $464,164—more than twice the salary of a New York State Supreme Court justice—could buy a one-bedroom co-op apartment on the Upper East Side with a doorman and onsite parking garage; a one-bedroom co-op in Bay Ridge with a live-in super and high ceilings; or “your very own private house in suburban Elmont, Nassau County, just over the Queens border.” “The point being that we are not talking mere Monopoly money here!” Engoron wrote. From another perspective, Engoron wrote that Greenberg’s papers are “beautiful: well-organized, well-written, and well-reasoned.” And Greenberg “argued just what you would expect, just what it had to, and just how it had to,” he said. “Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, and lawyers gotta litigate. Arguments made in moving papers could also be found in reply papers, ad nauseum, etc., but that is how lawyers usually argue, and sometimes win, cases,” Engoron said. “In short, [Greenberg] did what lawyers do, submitted excellent papers, and prevailed.”