Fee Amount Is Usually A Discretionary Call.
Bouquet Plaza SDS, LLC v. Kimmel, Case No. B306042 (2d Dist., Div. 2 Feb. 1, 2022) (unpublished) demonstrates how attorney’s fee motions should be attuned to lodestar factors, sometimes even offering voluntary reductions to maximize a favorable decision. Otherwise, requesting inflated or improper fees could result in a substantially reduced award.
Plaintiff did prevail against defendant lease guarantor after accepting a CCP § 998 offer of $89,000. Plaintiff then moved to recover $83,631.95 in contractual attorney’s fees. The lower court only granted fees of $15,000 after making observations that (1) the case was not that complex; (2) billing of secretarial and some paralegal time was improper; (3) plaintiff’s work activity demonstrated “churning”; and (4) severe redactions to itemized time entries made it difficult to determine exactly what services had been provided. The appellate court affirmed, given that the award was no abuse of discretion. The trial judge properly reduced the request based on lodestar factors justifying a downward adjustment.
The lesson here is to be reasonable when requesting fees. Attorney credibility is a key underlying construct which must be persuasively presented in fee proceedings.
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