“Inflated” Fee Request Justified Outright Denial By Trial Court.
Plaintiff won $6,359.10 on a FEHA claim, plus $168 for missed lunch breaks. Then, this litigant sought to recover fees of $717,828.50 under FEHA for “prevailing” in the trial court.
Get outta here, said the appellate court more eloquently than we in Romero v. Leon Max, Inc., Case Nos. B226820/B230313 (2d Dist., Div. 1 Jan. 25, 2012) (unpublished).
Relying upon Chavez v. City of Los Angeles, 47 Cal.4th 970 (2010) [one of our Leading Cases], Presiding Justice Mallano on behalf of a 3-0 panel affirmed the fee denial. “Inflated” requests alone can allow for such a denial (in this case, a 110 times request on the small judgment amount), which was bolstered by other facts–among others, plaintiff turned down a reasonable pre-trial settlement offer of $75,000.