Cases: Civil Rights

Civil Rights: Sixth District Finds Absence Of Rosenman Written Findings In FEHA Defense Fee Recovery Case Does Not Give Rise To Automatic Reversal

Cases: Civil Rights

  Here, Oral Findings Showed Court Justified Awarding Fees to the Defense.      Plaintiff, an American Indian, brought a FEHA/breach of contract/breach of implied covenant case against Stanford University, being nonsuited on the FEHA count (after the trial judge found he only had his own subjective opinion that racial discrimination occurred) and suffering an adverse

News . . . Anaheim Agrees To Settle Voting Rights Case Through Voter Charter Amendment Protocol And Pay Plaintiff’s Fees Upon An Agreed-On Or Upon A Fee Motion If Parties Cannot Agree

Cases: Civil Rights, In The News

We Link the Settlement Agreement Because It Has Interesting Provisions.      As reported in the January 26, 2014 edition of The Orange County Register, City of Anaheim—after spending more than $1.26 million in fees—decided to settle a challenge over minority voting rights in a way that allows voters to consider a charter amendment potentially altering

Civil Rights FEHA/Family Law/Special Agricultural Fee Shifting Statute/Trespass Dominate Unpublished Decisions For January 15, 2014

Cases: Civil Rights, Cases: Family Law, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes, Cases: Trespass

  Civil Rights FEHA: Chiang v. County of Los Angeles, Case No. B238948 (2d Dist., Div. 1 Jan. 15, 2014) (Unpublished).      County won summary judgment but appealed the lower court’s refusal to award it requested attorney’s fees of $324,098.80 as the prevailing party. The appellate court affirmed the conclusion that fees are not guided

Civil Rights/Multiplier: $680,520 Fee Award Under FEHA Affirmed On Appeal Even Though Winning Civil Rights Plaintiff Only Won $150,000 In Damages

Cases: Civil Rights, Cases: Multipliers

  No Statement of Decision Required, and Not Requested—No Fee Award Error.      This one has quite a lot of permutations for everyone to consider. On the merits, in a first impression case, the appellate held that a defective special verdict is reviewed under a harmless error analysis. However, it also has some nice themes

Civil Rights: Ninth Circuit Sustains Most Of District Judge’s Decision To Award Civil Rights Plaintiff, Who Only Had Limited Success On Gender Discrimination Claim, $697,971.80 In Fees Where $27,280 Recouped In Damages

Cases: Civil Rights

  Paralegal Fee Award Was Remanded Based on Consideration of Hearsay Evidence; 10% Lodestar Reduction for Inflated Hours Was No Abuse of Discretion.      Plaintiff won a gender discrimination claim against UPS, after losing other claims, under California’s state FEHA statute, which has a pro-plaintiff fee shifting claim. Plaintiff then requested FEHA claims in the

Civil Rights: Plaintiffs Successfully Challenging Anti-Gang Injunction Have Substantial Fee Award Of Over $3.2 Million Affirmed

Cases: Civil Rights

  Ninth Circuit Did Say That Fee Award Exposure to Orange County District Attorney T-Rack Might Need To Be Reassessed.      Vasquez v. Rackauckas, Case No. 11-55795 (9th Cir. Nov. 5, 2013) (published) is an interesting civil rights case in which an anti-gang injunction under California’s general public nuisance statutes was successfully challenged by four

Civil Rights/Multiplier: FEHA Plaintiff Winning $470,000 Compensatory Damages Properly Awarded Prevailing Party Fees Of $431,884.25

Cases: Civil Rights, Cases: Multipliers

  1.33 Multiplier Was Justified.      Plaintiff in Pena v. Central Freight Lines, Case Nos. A134753/A138014 (1st Dist., Div. 3 Oct. 4, 2013) (unpublished) won $470,000 in economic/noneconomic damages after a bench trial, with the lower court subsequently awarding $431,884.25 in fees under the FEHA fee-shifting statute–including a 1.33 multiplier, despite plaintiff requesting fees of

Civil Rights: Civil Rights Plaintiffs Winning Some Claims To The Tune Of $128,230 In Damages Garnered Fees Of $1,283,629.18–Ten-Fold Increase

Cases: Civil Rights

  Court Rejects Needless Markup:  1.1 Multiplier Used, But Rejected $1,623,087 Lodestar/2.0 Multiplier Fees Request.      In civil rights cases, winning plaintiffs have liberally-oriented fee shifting statutes in play which can result in exponential fee awards as compared to fairly modest damages recoveries–that is how the statutory schemes at both federal and state levels operate.

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