Judge: Lynette Gridiron Winston, Case: 24PSCV02652, Date: 2025-02-21 Tentative Ruling
Case Number: 24PSCV02652 Hearing Date: February 21, 2025 Dept: 6
Plaintiff
Orlando Garcia’s Request for Entry of Default Judgment
Defendant: Kenny Kassab, Trustee of the Kassab Family Living Trust
TENTATIVE RULING
Plaintiff’s request for entry of default judgment is GRANTED in the reduced amount of $8,314.34. The Court will modify and sign the proposed judgment or Plaintiff can submit a new proposed judgment prior to the hearing. If the default judgment is submitted, signed and entered, no appearance is needed.
BACKGROUND
This is an ADA/Unruh Civil Rights Act case. On August 16, 2024, plaintiff Orlando Garcia (Plaintiff) filed this action against defendant Kenny Kassab, Trustee of the Kassab Family Living Trust (Defendant) and Does 1 through 50, alleging causes of action for violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act and violation of the California Disabled Persons Act.
On December 3, 2024, default was entered against Defendant.
On January 9, 2025, Plaintiff requested entry of default judgment.
LEGAL STANDARD
Code of Civil Procedure section 585 permits entry of a default judgment after a party has failed to timely respond or appear. (Code Civ. Proc., § 585.) A party seeking judgment on the default by the court must file a Request for Court Judgment, and: (1) a brief summary of the case; (2) declarations or other admissible evidence in support of the judgment requested; (3) interest computations as necessary; (4) a memorandum of costs and disbursements; (5) declaration of nonmilitary status; (6) a proposed form of judgment; (7) a dismissal of all parties against whom judgment is not sought or an application for separate judgment under Code of Civil Procedure section 579, supported by a showing of grounds for each judgment; (8) exhibits as necessary; and (9) a request for attorneys’ fees if allowed by statute or by the agreement of the parties. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.1800.)
ANALYSIS
Plaintiff seeks default judgment against Defendants in the total amount of $8,721.94, including $4,000.00 in damages, $2,890.00 in attorney fees, and $1,831.94 in costs. The Court finds Plaintiff has presented sufficient evidence to support the amount of damages requested. But, the Court finds the requests for attorney fees and costs slightly overstated. Plaintiff is a high frequency litigant. (Compl., ¶ 29.) Given the high volume of complaints Plaintiff regularly files, it should not take Plaintiff’s counsel’s office 5.0 hours to draft a default judgment package. (Price Decl., Ex. 2.) The Court therefore reduces the total hours spent for the default judgment package to 3.0 hours, for a total reduction of $200.00, i.e. 2.0 hours x $100.00 per hour, and will award $2,690.00 in attorney fees.
Plaintiff also improperly attempts to include investigation fees and postage costs, which are not recoverable here. (CIV-100, ¶ 7, subd. (c); see Code Civ. Proc., § 1033.5, subd. (b)(2) [investigation costs in preparing cases for trial not recoverable]; id. § 1033.5, subd. (b)(3) [postage and mailing costs not recoverable].) The Court therefore deducts these costs accordingly, i.e. $200.00 for the investigation fees and $7.60 for the postage and mailing costs, and will award $1,624.34 in costs.
Given the foregoing deductions, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s request for entry of default judgment in the reduced amount of $8,314.34.
CONCLUSION