Contingency Fee Arrangement Did Lead to a Fee Multiplier in SLAPP Award.
In Rapp v. Geagan, Case No. A126121 (1st Dist., Div. 4 Oct. 29, 2010) (unpublished), defendants prevailed on a SLAPP motion. The wrinkle is that they were represented by a defense attorney hired on a contingency fee basis, with the understanding he was only entitled to fees if defendants prevailed on the SLAPP motion (which happened). Defendants moved to recover fees, also asking for a multiplier given their attorney’s contingency representation arrangement. The lower court honored their request for a multiplier, awarding one of 1.75 such that the total fee award was $20,728.12. Plaintiff appealed.
The fee award was affirmed.
The primary argument, aside from reasonableness arguments that were easily dispatched, was that defense attorney failed to attach time records to his clients’ original moving papers and that the later curing of this defect at the reply memorandum stage deprived plaintiff of a fair opportunity to review the time records and respond in writing. Although such a due process argument has general appeal, the flaw here was that the trial court continued the hearing to allow for further briefing by plaintiff, who chose not to do anything.
Sandbagged.