$23,562 Was The Fee Award, Based Upon A $495 Hourly Rate And 47.6 Hours Of Work.
In Musighi v. Graham, Case No. B349470 et al. (2d Dist., Div. 5 Nov. 6, 2026) (unpublished), defendant lawyers SLAPPed plaintiff’s lawsuit against them, with the lower awarding a full-ask fee award of $23,562 based on a reduced $495 hourly rate for a 1983 licensed defense counsel requesting compensation for 47.6 hours of work. The fee award was no abuse of discretion. Although defense counsel did not submit task-level billings, that is not mandatory in California under Syers and Raining Data. The time was not excessive given that defense counsel had to spend “extra time” analyzing misquoted cases relied on by plaintiff so an accurate presentation was made before the lower court.