Judge: William D. Claster, Case: 21-01206298, Date: 2022-09-30 Tentative Ruling
Plaintiff Matthew Miller's Notice of Motion and Motion to
Approve Settlement Agreement Pursuant to the Private Attorneys General Act ROA
73
The Court’s prior minute order
asked attorney William Marder to provide his hourly rate. His responsive
declaration listed only his hours worked, not his claimed rate. If this
information is provided at the hearing, the Court will GRANT Plaintiff’s
motion for approval of the parties’ PAGA settlement with respect to the
current version of the settlement agreement. The Court finds the parties’
settlement is “fair, reasonable, and adequate in view of PAGA’s purposes to
remediate present labor law violations, deter future ones, and to maximize
enforcement of state labor laws.” (Moniz v. Adecco USA, Inc. (2021)
72 Cal.App.5th 56, 72.) The Court also approves the current form of the
notice.
The Court approves the
following distributions:
- Attorney’s fees in the amount of
$34,710, or 30% of the GSA. The Court finds this amount to be a
reasonable result in light of the quality of the result obtained, the
work performed by counsel, a review of the billing records provided, and
the estimated lodestar. In approving this amount and examining the
billing records provided, the Court is not approving any particular
hourly billing rates proposed by counsel.
- Litigation costs in the amount of
$9,358.83, out of $10,850.83 sought. The court will not permit recovery
of a filing fee incurred on April 22, 2021 in connection with a separate
but related non-PAGA matter, Miller v. Stanbridge University, No.
21-01196748. The State, as real party in interest here, should not be
made to bear the expense of litigation to which it was not a party.
- Administration costs in the amount of
$4,500, per the administrator’s bid.
- An enhancement to Plaintiff of
$5,000. In making this award, the Court has considered only the factors
set forth in Golba v. Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc. (2015) 238
Cal.App.4th 1251 and Clark v. Am. Residential Servs. LLC (2009)
175 Cal.App.4th 785.
- Taking the above distributions into
account, from the GSA of $115,700, $62,131.17 remains to be distributed
as provided under PAGA. This amount shall be allocated 75% to the LWDA
and 25% to the aggrieved employees.
The administrator is to file a
declaration no later than May 7, 2023 to confirm that the distribution of
funds to aggrieved employees is complete. Upon receipt of the
administrator’s declaration, the Court will determine whether further
briefing or a hearing is necessary.
Please submit a revised
proposed order that conforms to the foregoing for the Court’s signature.
