Plaintiff Wanted $1.942 Million; However, Trial Court Properly Awarded Only $360,438.45 In Fees.
[U.S. Army induction center, ca. 1942]. Getting haircuts. CA 1942. Library of Congress
This next case illustrates how fee requests need to be reasonable and supported by proper substantiation. If not, the litigant will get a sizable “haircut,” which is exactly what happened in Medical Acquisition Co., Inc. v. Tri-City Healthcare Dist., Case Nos. D079471 et al. (4th Dist., Div. 1 Apr. 17, 2024) (unpublished).
Plaintiff entity sought reasonable litigation expenses, which include attorney’s fees, under CCP § 1268.610 in an eminent domain action, even though other distinct claims were involved. Plaintiff requested recovery of about $1.942 million in fees, broken down as $1.225 million for the main firm based on a contingency agreement and with the remainder being requests by in-house counsel and three other law practices for their contribution to the case. However, the lower court only awarded $360,438.45 in fees because it found the lodestar calculation to be fair for primary counsel and finding that there was improper substantiation for the remaining attorneys because hourly rates and hours worked were not shown, not to mention there was duplication in the services they provided. On appeal, the 4/1 DCA discerned no abuse of discretion, reminding us all that fee requests need to be reasonable in nature even at the moving paper stages of a fee proceeding under penalty of getting nothing or substantial fee reductions.
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