Civil Rights: $2,311,662.50 FEHA Disability Discrimination Fee Award Affirmed On Appeal

Compensatory Award Was $1,014,000.

            As we have posted in the past, FEHA compensatory awards often produce ancillary substantial fee recoveries.  That was borne out in Thomas v. City of Los Angeles, Case Nos. B305051/B308622 (2d Dist., Div. 2 Apr. 25, 2023) (unpublished).

            Plaintiff won a $1,014,000 FEHA disability discrimination award against L.A., with the lower court then awarding plaintiff $2,311,662.50 in attorney’s fees and $272,270.01 in costs.

            The fee award was affirmed on appeal, given the costs award was not challenged.  The lower court had lowered the lodestar request of $3,081,273 to $1,849,300, then augmenting the latter amount by a 1.25 positive multiplier.  These actions showed no abuse of discretion by the lower court, with the multiplier warranted by the contingency risk associated with the case.