Judge: Michael Small, Case: 24STCV04320, Date: 2025-03-17 Tentative Ruling

Inform the clerk if you submit on the tentative ruling. If moving and opposing parties submit, no appearance is necessary.

Case Number: 24STCV04320    Hearing Date: March 17, 2025    Dept: 57

Pending before the Court is Plaintiff's motion for attorney's fees and costs in this Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act case.  Plaintiff seeks in the motion $39,384.90. This amount encompasses (A) $22,400.00 in incurred attorney’s fees, including fees incurred in connection with the opening brief in support of the motion, plus a multiplier of 1.5 times the $22,400 figure; (B) time spent reviewing Defendant’s opposition, drafting the reply brief, and attending the  hearing on motion, plus another multiplier of 1.5 times, leading to a total of $4,500 in this category; (C) $798.15 in costs and expenses; and (D) $486.75 in anticipated costs and expenses for a Court reporter for the hearing on the fees motion. 

The Court is declining to award any multiplier in this case.   On the evidentiary record before the Court, a multiplier is unwarranted.  

The Court is reducing Plaintiff's fee request by $700 for work that does not appear to be related to this action.  The Court also is reducing the fee request by 2.7 hours, or half, of the 5.4 hours for which Plaintiff seeks recovery for time spent by paralegals on clerical work.  And the Court is reducing the amount awarded for work on the fees motion to 7 hours at $550 per hour.  One reason the Court is taking this step is that, in parts, the fees motion appears to be referring to another action.  Specifically, it refers to 111.20 hours of work on a "hotly contested" case.  As the motion itself shows, Plaintiff's counsel did not work 111.20 hours on this case. And this case settled within a few months of being filed, so it is not a case that was hotly contested.   In any event, the Court does not believe it should have taken counsel as long as counsel says it took to prepare the fees motion in this simple and short-lived case.

The Court will calculate with counsel what these reductions mean for the total amount of fees and costs to be awarded.