Cases: Civil Rights

Civil Rights: Fee Recovery In Successful Homeless Person Confiscation Case Pegged At $783,079.58, Not The Requested $1,805,000 In Fees

Cases: Civil Rights

  Reductions Made for Excessive Hourly Rates, Reconstructed Time Records, and Vague Time Entries.      In Lehr v. City of Sacramento, Case No. 2:07-cv-01565-MCE-GGH (E.D.Cal. Mar. 22, 2013 Memorandum and Order Partially Granting Plaintiffs’ Motion for Fees/Costs), Chief U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. of the Eastern District of California ruled on a $1,805,000 […]

Civil Rights/Lodestar/Multiplier: Lower Court Correctly Awarded $165,781 Fee Lodestar Rather Than Requested $2.169 Million

Cases: Civil Rights, Cases: Lodestar, Cases: Multipliers

  Multipliers Also Correctly Denied.      After a decades long FEHA litigation involving multiple appeals and four litigation phases, partially winning plaintiff in Fotheringham v. Avery Dennison Corp., Case No. B238282 (2d Dist., Div. 7 Feb. 13, 2013) (unpublished) must have felt dismayed when the lower court awarded her only $165,781 in fees (out of

Civil Rights/Private Attorney General: Litigant Obtaining Voluntary Changes By San Francisco In Connection With False Alarm Ordinance Properly Denied 1021.5 And Section 1988 Fee Recovery

Cases: Civil Rights, Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5)

  Unreasonable Post-Litigation Failure to Settle and Absence of Court-Ordered Change Negated Fee Entitlement Bases.       After petitioner lost an administrative hearing on the issue in Wineberg v. City & County of San Francisco, Case Nos. A134143/A134941 (Feb. 11, 2013) (unpublished), he commenced a lawsuit contesting a San Francisco ordinance assessing penalties for false burglar/fire

Civil Rights: Civil Rights Plaintiff Winning $1 In Nominal Damages And $200,000 In Punitive Damages On First Amendment Claim Gets Another Shot At Fee Recovery When Judge Awarded $500,000 Out Of Requested $3.2 Million And $100,000 Out Of Requested $900,000

Cases: Civil Rights

  C – :  “Show Us Your Work,” Ninth Circuit Tells Fee-Deciding District Judges.      The Ninth Circuit in Padgett v. Loventhal, Case No. 10-16533 (9th Cir. Feb. 11, 2013) (published) reversed a $500,000 fee award (out of a requested $3.2 million) and $100,000 cost award (out of a requested $900,000) after one civil rights

Civil Rights: Attorney’s Fees Recoverable In Mixed Motive FEHA Discrimination Cases Even If Employer Proves It Would Have Made The Same Employee Unfriendly Decision

Cases: Civil Rights

       Harris v. City of Santa Monica, Case No. S181004 (Cal. Supreme Court Feb. 7, 2013) (published) is must reading for FEHA practitioners involved in a mixed motive discriminatory case. It adopts a “substantial motivating” factor test for termination, but holds that an employer proving the same decision would have been made absent such

Civil Rights: $550,000 Fee Recovery In Civil Code Section 51.7 Case Involving $125,000 In Damages Affirmed On Appeal

Cases: Civil Rights

  After All, Trial Court Did Cut Down $1.13 Million Lodestar Request and Multiplier Enhancement Request.      Civil Code section 51.7 provides that Californians have a right to be free from any violence or intimidation by threat of violence committed against their persons because of specific characteristics, including sexual harassment. Under Civil Code section 52(b)(2),

Cases Under Review/Civil Rights: California Supreme Court Rules That Unruh Act Prevailing Party Fee Recovery Is Bilateral And Not Preempted By ADA Federal Fee Recovery Restrictions

Cases: Cases Under Review, Cases: Civil Rights

  Case Pitted Unruh Act State Provisions Against Federal ADA Fee-Shifting Provisions–State’s Rights Prevailed On This One.      Jankey v. Lee, Case No. S180890 (Cal. Sup. Ct. Dec. 17, 2012) (published) is a case pitting a bilateral attorney’s fees provision to prevailing parties under the state Unruh Act (Civ. Code, § 55) against a federal

Cases Under Review/Civil Rights: Washington District Court Decision Denying Civil Rights Fees To Nonprofit Organization Contesting Municipal Regulation Near Zoo Might Get Reversed

Cases: Cases Under Review, Cases: Civil Rights

  At Least One Circuit Judge Thinks Denial Was Erroneous.      In Higher Taste v. City of Tacoma, Case No. C10-5252BHS (W.D. Wash. Doc. 54 filed 11/22/11), U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle denied a nonprofit plaintiff’s request for attorney’s fees under the civil rights statute (42 U.S.C. § 1988(b)) after nonprofit obtained a preliminary

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