Plaintiff Did Prevail And Amounts of Awards No Abuse of Discretion.
In Oiye v. Fox, Case No. H038410 (6th Dist. Nov. 25, 2014) (unpublished), plaintiff won about a $500,000 verdict against a defendant who was alleged to molest her, with defendant pleading no contest to two lewd counts (being sentenced to 6 years in prison and ordered to make restitution for $600,000). Later on, plaintiff requested $27,406.89 in costs and $518,568.74 in fees as the prevailing party in the civil suit under Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.4, a special fee-shifting statute allowing a prevailing plaintiff to obtain fees and costs against a defendant convicted of a felony. The trial judge awarded $26,034.71 in costs and $275,825 in fees, reducing the lodestar request a little and denying a multiplier request.
The defense requests for a reduction were not persuasive on appeal.
Although plaintiff did not prevail on a majority of her claims, she did obtain substantial damages on the remaining claim such that she was the “prevailing party” under section 1021.4. The trial court did not abuse its discretion on the fee award, because no issue-by-issue analysis was necessary on the lodestar request—with the lower court showing no favoritism by reducing the fee request and denying the multiplier request. Finally, no adequate record was developed to show the costs award was erroneous.