Plaintiffs Had Asked For About $7.465 Million Inclusive Of A 2.0 Positive Multiplier, With The Appellate Court Rebuffing That Any Further Reduction Was Justified.
Defendant reached a settlement with plaintiffs in a class action case in Davis v. AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Case No. B348322 (2d Dist., Div. 4 June 1, 2026) (unpublished) for $575,000, although the amount of attorney’s fees and costs was left to the lower court to decide. The opinion has language indicating that the lower court, in fashioning a fee/costs award, found there was a long course of mutual incivility by both sides. Plaintiffs, based on hourly rates ranging from $395 to $1,210, asked for a lodestar enhanced by a 2.0 multiplier, totaling a little over $7.465 million. Although the defense argued many reductions should be made and 90% of the requested lodestar should be reduced, the lower court eventually awarded $2.274 million in fees and reduced costs/expenses based on a defense interpretation of the settlement agreement which it took into account in awarding fees (finding the semantics acceptable, but too unkind to the plaintiffs).
Defendant appealed, arguing that the fee award should be reduced further. The appellate court disagreed based on the deferential abuse of discretion review standard applicable to the amount of a fee award. After all, the lower court—after refusing to award a multiplier—reduced the lodestar request by 40% for incivility, lack of success on several liability theories, and overstaffing inefficiencies. The lower court did not abuse its discretion by “going gentle” on the lodestar on a preliminary basis before making specific reductions, given its decision to not award a multiplier even though the case was on contingency and five years of litigation was involved (which explained acceptance of plaintiffs’ requested hourly rates). Not only that, but the lower court’s decision to only award 50% of expenses based on the defense’s position of the settlement definition terms of what was recoverable, gave added reinforcement for fashioning the ultimate fee award.