Lower Court Discounted Lodestar And Awarded No Multiplier; CCP § 1021.5 Public Importance Analysis Not Required Under FEHA Fee Awards.
A FEHA prevailing plaintiff has a strong basis to reap fee recovery under Government Code section 12965(b); however, the trial judge frequently does discount the lodestar and multiplier request, as happened in Lafleur v. Woodbridge Structural Funding, Case No. B258832 (2d Dist., Div. 8 Oct. 9, 2015) (unpublished)—rulings affirmed by the Second District, Division 8, in an opinion authored by Presiding Justice Bigelow.
Plaintiff won a FEHA case claiming she was discriminated due to a pregnancy, with a jury awarding $30,000 damages. Then came the real reckoning in this case—plaintiff seeking a $317,500 lodestar fee award augmented by a 2.0 positive multiplier for a total fee award of $635,000. The lower court found the fee request to be too much, awarding $160,700 as the lodestar and denying the multiplier request.
The defense appeal did not succeed. The main contention was that FEHA fee awards had to also vindicate a broader significant, public importance like that involved in private attorney general fee awards under CCP § 1021.5. Although sometimes 1021.5 is considered under specific circumstances, the 2/8 DCA rejected the defense’s 1021.5-grafting requirement given that “[the defense] has failed to cite to any case which holds that a plaintiff suing under FEHA is only entitled to attorney fees if she also meets the public interest requirement of section 1021.5.” Fee award affirmed.