U.S. District Magistrate Judge Diane Vescovo ordered the U.S. Marshals Service to pay First Citizens $22,490.45 in legal fees and interest.

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The decision came after U.S. District Judge Samuel Hardy Mays refused the bank's August 2007 motion to claim attorney's fees and expenses and 34 days of interest.

FCNB had asked for $23,707.50 in attorneys' fees, with attorneys Barry Ward and Robert Hutton of the Memphis law firm Glankler Brown due $18,300 and the bank's local attorney Mark Johnston due $5,407.50.

The judge in August 2007 ordered the U.S. Marshals Service to pay $341,728.88 to FCNB.

U.S. District Attorney David Kustoff in November 2007 roundly criticized the bank and its attorneys.

"...Hours spent in preparation of spurious claims are not reasonable given the ultimate result obtained," said the motion. "Of particular interest in this regard are the hours billed by Mr. Johnston in pursuit of a plainly frivolous claim, and the hours billed by the Glankler Brown attorneys for drafting a motion that was never even filed."

"The first problem with FCNB's request in this regard is overstaffing. Overstaffing invites heightened scrutiny of fee requests. The Glankler Brown attorneys seek to bill an inordinate amount of time for attorneys talking to each other about relatively simple matters. In two such instances, on February 25 and July 11, attorneys Hutton and Ward each billed for talking to the other, so that they are attempting to bill at a combined rate of $600 per hour discussing a case that had already been substantially resolved in their favor.

"There is also an issue with overbilling for simple matters. Ultimately, the parties entered into a consent order as to the payment of principal and interest to FCNB. An examination of this order reveals that it is brief - only three pages in length, including a signature page - and also straightforward and uncomplicated. A review of the correspondence between the parties ... indicates that the negotiations that led to the consent order were neither contentious nor complicated. Yet an examination of Glankler Brown's billing for this simple matter indicates a total of 15 hours and a requested fee of $4,500."

The government asked the attorneys fees for the foreclosure capped at $125 per hour.

Vescovo rebuked Kustoff's criticism of the interoffice legal talk, noting "The court finds that these charges are not excessive. Both conferences were of limited duration, 1 to 1.5 hours; both conferences involved planning strategy; and the longer conference included other activities such as phone calls and review of a court order."

Johnston's work on trying to foreclose on the building was also allowable, said Vescovo.

"The district court determined that although FCNB was unsuccessful in its attempt, its belief in its right to foreclose was not unreasonable based on existing case law, the time spent was necessary to pursue its understanding of its rights in the property, and therefore, FCNB is entitled to recover its attorney fees for its efforts in pursuing foreclosure."

The property, at 5475 South Highway 51, was seized in May 2004. The property was on FCNB's books as the successor to Munford Union Bank, which FCNB bought in 2001.

A two-year undercover operation resulted in the May 2004 arrest of the building's owner, Wahib Ibrahim and six others after they were indicted on money laundering and drug charges from transporting $175,000 in stolen items from Mississippi to Tennessee.