A Magistrate Judge determining the discovery dispute between the plaintiffs in the Kajan Johnson antitrust lawsuit has assess attorney fees upon Zuffa. However, it is not as much as the Plaintiffs requested.
In February 2026, the Plaintiffs filed this Motion to Compel based on a set of written questions provided to Zuffa. For this, they requested attorney fees and costs of $175,831.
The attorneys fees include the amount of time it took to draft a Motion to Compel and its subsequent responses to opposition. It also includes travel time to attend the hearing on the Motion. They also sought $4,053.41 in costs associated with the legal research.
Zuffa opposed the motion which led to a paper war which included a Reply to the opposition a “Sur- Reply” and a response to the Sur reply.
In an order dated, September 16, 2026, United States Magistrate Judge Brenda Weksler evaluated the work performed by the Plaintiffs and determined whether work was warranted, duplicated and if it was within the hourly rate for the area.
The Court was detailed in its evaluation. The Plaintiffs spent 47.7 hours in drafting the motion to compel on less than 10 interrogatory requests. The partner in charge of the motion billed 14 hours for work. The Court believed he should have only billed 10. Similarly the Court shaved down the amount of time billed for the corresponding motions.
The Court came up with a table of hours that it deemed to be appropriate for having to file a Motion to Compel.
The Court also noted the average hourly rates of attorneys in the Las Vegas area. While the Court recognized that partners/shareholders may have higher hourly rates based on experience. The Court notes that the prevailing market is the Las Vegas market and adjusted accordingly.
Plaintiffs also argued that the Court in the Le case awarded fees higher than usual. But, the Magistrate noted that was based “on a percentage of the total recovery in a common-fund case.
Payout Perspective:
Even though the Plaintiffs did not receive everything it was asking for, this was a hefty penalty for Zuffa to shell out. It also paints a bad picture with the Court in future discovery disputes. The request for fees comes due to egregious violations within discovery and for the Court to be willing to issue a penalty of $57,400 is big.
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