The Math: Total Bill = $783K, Attorney’s Fees = $674K, Experts = $108K, Depositions and Transcripts = $40K, Fee Recovery = $0.
Lydia Lopez, a former Sheriff’s Department Clerk, lost a harassment suit against the County of Stanislaus. Merrill Balassone reports in the Sacramento Bee that Ms. Lopez’ attorney Jeffery Hubbins claims the County brought its motion for fees to create a chilling effect on others who might bring suit. Mr. Hubbins, who told jurors that his client was driven to homelessness after leaving the Sheriff’s Department, now says his client’s bill for costs will not top $40,000. (Query whether a $40,000 cost bill would have a chilling effect.) By contrast, the assistant county counsel says that the law is not "a tool for disgruntled employees to get back at their employer.”
Judge Hurl Johnson did not believe the lawsuit was frivolous, and denied the request for $674K in legal fees.
BONUS – From the History of the Sacramento Bee:
“The first James McClatchy used a picture of a bee on his business stationery. His son, C.K., ordered the image of a bee depicted in mosaic tile in the lobby of the old Bee office at 911 Seventh St. in 1901. That mosaic now is on permanent display at the Sacramento History Museum.
In 1943 James McClatchy’s granddaughter, Eleanor, then president of The Bee, asked Walt Disney to create some new images of the insect to "lend personality and a familiar identity" to the papers and the company’s radio stations.”
Thus was born Scoopy the Bee, mascot for the McClatchy newspapers, and Gaby the Bee, mascot for the radio stations.