Judge: Michael Small, Case: BC703844, Date: 2024-01-30 Tentative Ruling
Case Number: BC703844 Hearing Date: January 30, 2024 Dept: 57
Plaintiffs' motion for attorney's fees and costs is granted in part and denied in part.
To begin with, the Court has no issue with the billing rates of Plaintiffs' attorneys. The Court disagrees with Defendant that the billing rates are out of line with prevailing rates for lawyers engaged in Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act work in the Los Angeles County market.
Next, while the number of lawyers who are said to have done work on this case for Plaintiffs is large, the case spanned a number of years and the bulk of the work was done by a smaller, core group of lawyers . Accordingly, the Court is not reducing Plaintiffs' request for fees on the basis of the size of the legal team.
The Court is, however, making the following reductions to the Plaintiffs' attorney's fee request: (A) the time attorney Armando Lopez spent on a reply brief in support of discovery motion, 11.4 hours, is excessive and the Court is therefore reducing the fees attendant to that work by one-half, which is $1177.50; (B) the time attorney Constance Morrison spent on reviewing deposition subpoenas and notices of depositions is excessive, and the Court is therefore reducing the fees attendant to that work by one-half, which is $712.50; (C) the $6,885.50 in attorney's fees for the time Plaintiffs' lawyers spent on drafting a motion for relief from a Code of Civil Procedure Section 998 offer are not recoverable because the need for that work was caused by a mistake that Plaintiffs' attorneys made; and (D) the Court agrees with Defendant that $93.50 of the request for fees reflects a duplicate entry and therefore that amount is not recoverable.
Further, the Court is denying Plaintiffs' request that the Court apply an upward multiplier to enhance the fees. The Court has determined that a multiplier is not warranted in this case.
Turning to the Plaintiffs' request for costs, the Court is reducing the amount of recoverable fees for Plaintiffs' expert Anthony Micale by $3,000. The amount of time that Micale is said to have worked on the case strikes the Court as excessive. Further, the Court agrees with Defendants that Plaintiffs have not demonstrated that the following costs are recoverable: (A) charges for “Attorney Services and Messenger Court Filings and Service” in the amount of $1,026.77; $65.00 for “Court Appearance Professionals”, $19.55 for “Overnight”, $122.67 for “Travel”, and $502.63 for “Mediation.
Following the hearing on Plaintiffs' motion, the Court will add up the reductions in fees and costs set forth above and deduct that amount from the amount of Plaintiffs' request to arrive at a final figure for the award of Plaintiffs' fees and costs.
