Amount Of Fee Award Was Justified Given Trial Court’s Analysis Of The Complexity Of The Case, Results Achieved By Plaintiffs, And Plaintiffs’ Showing To Support The Fee Request.
The Displaced Janitors Opportunity Act (Lab. Code, §§ 1060–1065) “requires contractors who are awarded contracts for janitorial or building maintenance services at a particular site to retain certain employees working for the terminated contractor for a 60-day transition employment period, and to offer those workers continued employment if their performance during the 60-day period is satisfactory.” (§ 1061, subds. (b)(1) & (f).) Under the DJOA, an employee of the terminated contractor who was not offered employment by the successor contractor may sue the successor for back pay, including the value of any lost employment benefits. (§ 1062, subd. (a).) An employee prevailing in such an action “shall” be awarded “reasonable attorney’s fees and costs as part of the costs recoverable.” (§ 1062, subd. (c).) (Jones v. Quality Coast, Inc. (2021), 62 Cal.App.5th 372, 379–380 (2021) [discussed in our February 27, 2021 post].) The Displaced Worker Protection Act (S.F. Police Code, §§ 3300C.1–3300C.6) provides for a similar 90-day transition period. (§§ 3300C.1(c) & (f), 3300C.2(b).)
In SEIU-USWW v. Preferred Building Services, Inc., Case No. A159790 (1st Dist., Div. 5 October 15, 2021) (partially published – fees discussion not published), a successor janitorial contractor appealed after a class of displaced janitors and their union – suing for violations of the DJOA and DWPA – successfully moved for summary judgment and were subsequently awarded attorneys’ fees.
On appeal, Defendant challenged the amount of fees awarded – arguing the trial court should have adjusted the lodestar downward due to overstaffing with eight attorneys, double counted the attorneys’ skill by applying a multiplier when the skill level was already factored into the lodestar, and that the 1.4 multiplier (reduced from Plaintiffs’ requested 2.0) was not supported by the factors involved in the case. The 1/5 DCA affirmed. The trial court properly considered and analyzed the complexity of the case, results achieved by Plaintiffs, and Plaintiffs’ showing to support the fee request. Ninety percent of Plaintiffs’ billed hours came from lead counsel and four associates, time for attorneys billing less than 10 hours was excluded, and Plaintiffs had applied an across-the-board lodestar reduction of ten percent. As to its other contentions, Defendant did not demonstrate that the trial court improperly double counted counsel’s skill nor abused its discretion in applying the multiplier. The trial court identified four factors warranting the multiplier – where “any one of those factors may be responsible for enhancing or reducing the lodestar.” (Krumme v. Mercury Ins. Co., 123 Cal.App.4th 924, 947 (2004).)
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