Sanchez v. Albertson's LLC

District Court, D. Nevada·Decided June 24, 2022·No. 2:19-cv-02017·Unknown

Opinion

2 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 3 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 4 * * * 5 Victor Sanchez, Case No. 2:19-cv-02017-JAD-DJA 6 Plaintiff, 7 Order v. 8 Albertson’s LLC, 9 Defendant. 10 11 12 This is a personal injury action arising out of an umbrella that fell on Plaintiff Victor 13 Sanchez’s head while he was shopping at Defendant Albertson’s store. Plaintiff sues Defendant 14 for damages, claiming that it was negligent in maintaining its premises. After the Court granted 15 Defendant’s motion for sanctions, it ordered the parties to meet and confer and reach an 16 agreement on the appropriate attorneys’ fees and costs to award to Defendant. (ECF No. 73 at 17 21-22). The Court asked Defendant to file an affidavit of reasonable expenses and fees if the 18 parties could not reach an agreement. (Id.). 19 Defendant filed an affidavit. (ECF No. 78). Plaintiff objected to certain of Defendant’s 20 time entries and amounts. (ECF No. 81). Defendant replied that Plaintiff’s objections were not 21 developed and that the fees were reasonable. (ECF No. 82). Because the Court finds that the 22 rates Defendant’s attorneys and paralegal charged were reasonable, but that certain of the time 23 spent was not, it grants in part and denies in part Defendant’s requested attorneys’ fees and costs. 24 The Court finds these matters properly resolved without a hearing. LR 78-1. 25 I. Discussion. 26 The court should only award attorneys’ fees that it deems reasonable. Moreno v. City of 27 Sacramento, 534 F.3d 1106, 1111 (9th Cir. 2008). Reasonableness is generally determined using 1 that method, the Court multiplies the number of hours reasonably expended on the litigation by 2 the reasonable hourly rate. Id. After making that computation, the court then assesses whether it 3 is necessary to adjust the presumptively reasonable lodestar figure based on the Kerr factors1 that 4 are not already subsumed in the initial lodestar calculation. Id. Adjustments are proper only in 5 rare and exceptional cases. Fifty-Six Hope Road Music, Ltd. v. A.V.E.L.A., Inc., 915 F.Supp.2d 6 1179, 1188 (D. Nev. 2013) (citing Jordan v. Multnomah Cnty., 815 F.2d 1258, 1262 (9th Cir. 7 1987)).2 8 First, the Court finds that the hourly rate requested by Defendant’s attorneys and paralegal 9 is reasonable. Second, the Court determines that, while much of the time spent on the litigation 10 was reasonable, certain hours were not. It thus conducts the lodestar computation based on the 11 reasonable rate and reasonable hours. The Court need not reach the Kerr factors in adjusting the 12 lodestar. 13 14 15

16 1 The Kerr factors include: (1) the time and labor required, (2) the novelty and difficulty of the questions involved, (3) the skill requisite to perform the legal service properly, (4) the preclusion 17 of other employment by the attorney due to acceptance of the case, (5) the customary fee, 18 (6) whether the fee is fixed or contingent, (7) time limitations imposed by the client or the circumstances, (8) the amount involved and the results obtained, (9) the experience, reputation, 19 and ability of the attorneys, (10) the ‘undesirability’ of the case, (11) the nature and length of the professional relationship with the client, and (12) awards in similar cases. Kerr v. Screen Extras 20 Guild, Inc., 526 F.3d 67, 70 (9th Cir. 1975). 21 2 Additionally, under Local Rule 54-14, in moving for attorneys’ fees, a party must include a brief summary of: (1) the results obtained and the amount involved; (2) the time and labor required; 22 (3) the novelty and difficulty of the questions involved; (4) the skill requisite to perform the legal service properly; (5) the preclusion of other employment by the attorney due to acceptance of the 23 case; (6) the customary fee; (7) whether the fee is fixed or contingent; (8) the time limitations 24 imposed by the client or the circumstances; (9) the experience, reputation, and ability of the attorney(s); (10) the undesirability of the case, if any; (11) the nature and length of the 25 professional relationship with the client; (12) awards in similar cases; and (13) any other information the court may request. Here, although Defendant included the required summary in 26 its reply but not the initial affidavit, the Court nonetheless finds the summary sufficient. The 27 Court has already concluded that Defendant is entitled to attorneys’ fees and is still able to analyze the reasonableness of those fees using the summary. Thus, Defendant’s error of not 1 1. Defendant has demonstrated a reasonable hourly rate. 2 The court determines a reasonable hourly rate by reference to the “prevailing market rates 3 in the relevant community” for an attorney of similar experience, skill, and reputation. Gonzalez 4 v. City of Maywood, 729 F.3d 1196, 1205 (9th Cir. 2013) (quotation omitted). The relevant 5 community generally is “the forum in which the district court sits.” Prison Legal News v. 6 Schwarzenegger, 608 F.3d 446, 454 (9th Cir. 2010) (quotation omitted). “For the Las Vegas 7 market, this court has regularly awarded fees where the hourly rates at issue were between $250 8 and $400.” Scott v. Smith’s Food and Drug Centers, Inc., No. 2:18-cv-303-JCM-VCF, 2020 WL 9 343642, at *2 (D. Nev. Jan. 21, 2020) (compiling cases). An attorneys’ fees award may include 10 paralegal fees. See Missouri v. Jenkins by Agyei, 491 U.S. 274, 284 (1989); see also Agarwal v. 11 Oregon Mut. Ins. Co., No. 2:11-cv-01384-LDG-NJK, 2013 WL 5882710, at *3 (D. Nev. Oct. 30, 12 2013) (awarding fees for paralegal work). For the Las Vegas market, paralegals typically charge 13 between $75 to $125 per hour. See Watson v. NCO Fin. Sys., Inc., No. 14-cv-1755-JAD-VCF, 14 2015 WL 1959163, at *2 (D. Nev. Apr. 29, 2015) (finding a $125 hourly rate to be 15 reasonable); Tallman v. CPS Sec. (USA), Inc., 23 F.Supp.3d 1249, 1260 (D. Nev. 2014) (finding a 16 $90 hourly rate to be reasonable); Agarwal, 2013 WL 5882710, at *2 (finding a $75 hourly rate to 17 be reasonable); Plaza Bank v. Alan Green Family Trust, No. 2:11-cv-00130-MMD-VCF, 2013 18 WL 1759580, at *2 (D. Nev. Apr. 24, 2013) (finding a $100 hourly rate to be reasonable). 19 Defendant has established a reasonable hourly rate for its attorneys and paralegal. 20 Plaintiff explains that he has no specific objection to the $168 per hour requested by attorneys 21 Jaquelyn Franco and Jessica Brown. However, he asserts that he objects to the “lack of support 22 establishing the ability to seek fees for paralegals and the lack of support showing $110 an hour is 23 a reasonable rate for any paralegal.” (ECF No. 81 at 4). In reply, Defendant provides this 24 support by citing to a Ninth Circuit case in which the court awarded $115 an hour for the services 25 of a paralegal and explaining that Katri Ching has five years of experience and a master’s degree. 26 (ECF No. 82 at 2-3) (citing Camacho v. Bridgeport Fin., Inc., 523 F.3d 973, 977-78 (9th Cir. 27 2008)); (ECF No. 82-2 at 6). The Court finds that this is sufficient to support Ms. Ching’s hourly 1 thus demonstrated a reasonable hourly rate of $168 an hour for Jaquelyn Franco and Jessica 2 Brown and a rate of $110 an hour for Katri Ching. 3 2. Plaintiff’s attorneys have expended reasonable hours except for certain entries. 4 5 The requesting party “has the burden of submitting billing records to establish that the 6 number of hours it has requested are reasonable.” Gonzalez, 729 F.3d at 1202.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Sanchez v. Albertson's LLC, (D. Nev. 2022).

Sanchez v. Albertson's LLC (Sanchez v. Albertson's LLC) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Hensley v. Eckerhart
461 U.S. 424 (Supreme Court, 1983)
Missouri v. Jenkins Ex Rel. Agyei
491 U.S. 274 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Prison Legal News v. Schwarzenegger
608 F.3d 446 (Ninth Circuit, 2010)
Martin Gonzalez, Sr. v. City of Maywood
729 F.3d 1196 (Ninth Circuit, 2013)
Topps Co., Inc. v. Cadbury Stani SAIC
526 F.3d 63 (Second Circuit, 2008)
Moreno v. City of Sacramento
534 F.3d 1106 (Ninth Circuit, 2008)
Camacho v. Bridgeport Financial, Inc.
523 F.3d 973 (Ninth Circuit, 2008)
Ballen v. City of Redmond
466 F.3d 736 (Ninth Circuit, 2006)
Tallman v. CPS Security (USA), Inc.
23 F. Supp. 3d 1249 (D. Nevada, 2014)
Conservation Force v. Salazar
915 F. Supp. 2d 1 (D.C. Circuit, 2013)