$1,037,286 Fee Award Was Paid On Remand From $3.769 Million FEHA Compensatory Verdict.
Plaintiff in Leggins v. Rite Aid Corp. & Thrifty Payless, Inc., Case No. B290700 (2d Dist., Div. 1 Dec. 20, 2019) (unpublished) had won a FEHA harassment/wrongful discharge verdict against defendants to the tune of $3.79 million in compensatory damages, $5 million in punitive damages, and $1,037,286 in attorney’s fees. In an earlier appeal, defendants overturned the punitive damages award, with Rite Aid paying the previous attorney’s fees award in full on remand. Plaintiff moved for additional fees after the earlier appeal, but the lower court refused to grant the request. The 2/1 DCA affirmed, finding no abuse of discretion in denial of awarding any more fees given that the defendants were successful in knocking out punitive damages. Plaintiff’s attorneys still obtained about 27% of the compensatory award, which was not a bad pay day in the appellate panel’s view.