Family Law, Substantiation Of Reasonableness Of Fees: Attorney Fee Award To Husband Prevailing In Restraining Order Matter Reversed Due To Lack Of Information Necessary For Trial Court To Perform A Lodestar Calculation

An Unsworn Statement Made By Husband’s Counsel, As To His Hourly Rate And Time Spent Working On The Case, Did Not Support The Trial Court’s Lodestar Calculation.

            In Marriage of Halamandaris, Case No. E076933 (4^th Dist., Div. 2 October 10, 2022) (unpublished), husband defeated wife’s attempt to obtain a restraining order under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act (Fam. Code, § 6200 et seq.), then successfully moved for $38,395 in prevailing party attorney fees under Fam. Code, § 6344 – which allows for an award of fees and costs to the prevailing party in any domestic violence restraining order matter.

            Wife’s argument against husband’s fee request fared much better on appeal than it did in the trial court – namely that husband had failed to carry his burden of proof regarding the $38,395 in fees by failing to provide a basis for the fees requested.  Agreeing with wife’s contention that the fee award was not supported by substantial evidence, the 4/2 DCA reversed and remanded for a redetermination of the fee award. 

            The only evidence provided by husband’s counsel in support of the fee request was a list of tasks performed by him and his staff, and a statement that husband had incurred a total of $38,395 in fees.  Husband’s counsel submitted nothing to evidence the number of hours spent on the case, by whom the hours were spent, and at what rate – thereby failing to provide the information necessary for the trial court to complete the lodestar calculation, which involves the trial court first determining the actual hours spent by counsel on the case, then subtracting any hours it finds inefficient or unreasonable, and finally, it multiplies that amount by the applicable billing rate (if it finds the rate reasonable).  An unsworn statement made during the fees hearing by husband’s counsel, as to his hourly rate and time spent working on the case, were insufficient to support a lodestar calculation.  “[A] fee request ordinarily should be documented in great detail.” (Weber v. Langholz, 39 Cal.App.4th 1578, 1587 (1995).)