Government Code § 12965(b) Authorizes A Court To Award Reasonable Attorney Fees To The Prevailing Party In A FEHA Action, But The Trial Court Has Discretion To Reduce The Award Where, As Here, A Plaintiff Achieves Only Limited Success.
In Moinuddin v. State of Cal., Dept. of Transportation, Case No. B297674 (2d Dist., Div. 5 June 23, 2021) (unpublished), a jury found in favor of demoted FEHA plaintiff on his three causes of action – discrimination, retaliation, and failure to prevent both. However, the jury awarded plaintiff no damages, concluding employer would have taken the same actions without discriminatory and retaliatory motives because plaintiff’s job performance was poor. Judgment entered in plaintiff’s favor included the declaratory relief and some of the injunctive relief plaintiff requested through post-verdict motions. Additionally, the trial court awarded plaintiff $610,330 out of a requested $1,205,864.25 in attorney fees after making reductions to the requested hourly rates, disallowing hours billed by paralegals performing clerical tasks, and denying plaintiff’s request for a 1.5 multiplier.
The 2/5 DCA partially reversed. Because plaintiff did not make the request in his complaint, the panel struck the award of declaratory relief from the judgment. (Davis v. Farmers Ins. Exchange, 245 Cal.App.4th 1302, 1326 (2016).) Additionally, the panel struck from the judgment the injunction compelling employer to comply with FEHA’s discrimination and retaliation protections – finding the trial court “overstep[ped] its authority” by essentially ordering employer to obey the law. (City of Redlands v. County of San Bernardino, 96 Cal.App.4th 398, 416 (2002).) Finally, although Gov. Code § 12965(b) authorizes a court to award reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party in a FEHA action, the trial court has discretion to reduce the award where, as here, a plaintiff achieves limited success. Because the appellate panel reversed part of the relief plaintiff achieved, it also struck plaintiff’s fee award and remanded for a determination by the trial court as to whether to award the same or a different amount of fees.
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