We Figure That $150,000 Fee Award Was Affirmed On Appeal.
In Williams v. Butte County, Case No. C066234 (3d Dist. Feb. 8, 2012) (unpublished), plaintiff--a qualified medical marijuana patient--formed a collective of medical marijuana patients but had to destroy a lot of plants when a sheriff ordered them to do so without a warrant. Patient earlier won a significant, published writ proceeding about plaintiff’s right to grow medical marijuana cooperatively. Subsequently, the trial court awarded, if our calculations are correct, about $150,000 in fees, calculated as a lodestar of $500/hour times 147.6 hours, augmented by a two-fold multiplier, under California’s private attorney general statute (CCP § 1021.5).
County appealed, to no avail. The bottom line was that the writ proceeding was a significant ruling in the medical marijuana area, so County’s “pooh-poohing” did not go very far with the appellate court also having decided the writ decision. County actually argued it should have been awarded attorney’s fees because plaintiff’s suit was groundless under Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.7, a specialized governmental sanctions statute which is the inverse of section 1021.5, but this was rejected because of a key “disconnect”--plaintiff did win the marijuana dispute, County failing to link testimony from an uncorroborated federal felon with other claimed acts. Fee award affirmed.
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