Facebook wants Paul Ceglia to pay more than $84,000 in attorney fees

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Facebook’s lawyers are asking a judge to order Paul Ceglia to foot the bill for more than $84,000 in fees.

Ceglia, the New York man who claims he’s entitled to half of Mark Zuckerberg’s multibillion-dollar stake in Facebook, was fined for refusing to turn over email account information and ordered to pay reasonable attorneys’ fees.

Facebook’s lawyers are also asking Leslie G. Foschio, the federal magistrate in Buffalo, N.Y., to order Ceglia not to file any additional ‘non-responsive papers or pleadings in the case’ until he pays up.

Ceglia’s lawyer, Dean Boland, said he has not had a chance to review the court filing in detail, but said he and his client would prepare a response over the coming week.

‘If we feel it ought to be modified, we will respond accordingly,’ Boland said.

Boland, who’s from Cleveland, took a shot at Facebook’s lawyers for charging Manhattan hourly rates in a case unfolding in Buffalo.

‘Cleveland and Buffalo are pretty identical demographically, and I can tell you that no lawyer would survive in the city of Cleveland charging that much an hour because no one would be able to hire him,’ Boland said.

Orin Snyder, the most senior Gibson Dunn partner, charged $716.25 an hour. His most junior associate charged $337.50 an hour, according to the filing.

Facebook, which is on the verge of an initial public offering that could value the world’s most popular social networking company at $100 billion, can clearly afford it.

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-- Jessica Guynn