Total Fee Denial Reversed, Where Plaintiff Won Only $4,335.38 But Requested $241,931.15 In Fees.
Plaintiff won 2 out of 11 counts in a discrimination/failure to accommodate/wage-hour lawsuit, recovering $4,335.15 on unpaid overtime compensation and unpaid wage claims. He then moved to recoup $241,931.15 (a requested lodestar of $161,954.10 plus a positive 1.5 multiplier). The lower court denied the fee request in entirety based on the conclusion that the amount of fees was unreasonable in relation to the amount recovered at trial and a positive multiplier was inapplicable given the small recovery.
The appellate court reversed and remanded in Burgueno v. Epic Imports, LLC, Case Nos. B240733/B244936 (2d Dist., Div. 5 May 9, 2014) (unpublished; opinion following rehearing). Labor Code section 1194 makes an award of fees mandatory for a party prevailing on the two wage/hour claims resulting in recovery for plaintiff. (Plancich v. UPS, Inc., 198 Cal.App.4th 308, 313 (2011).) Failure to award a reasonable amount of fees was error (Harrington v. Payroll Entertainment Services, Inc., 160 Cal.App.4th 589, 593-594 (2008)), although the reviewing court expressed no opinion on the proper amount of fees to be awarded upon remand.