Seebach v. BMW of North America, LLC

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedAugust 21, 2020
Docket2:18-cv-00109
StatusUnknown

This text of Seebach v. BMW of North America, LLC (Seebach v. BMW of North America, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Seebach v. BMW of North America, LLC, (E.D. Cal. 2020).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 ANDREA SEEBACH, No. 2:18-cv-00109-KJM AC 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 BMW OF NORTH AMERICA, LLC., 15 Defendant. 16 17 In this “lemon law” action, plaintiff has obtained a judgment and now moves for 18 the court to determine reasonable attorney’s fees. For the reasons below, the court GRANTS 19 plaintiff’s motion in part. 20 I. BACKGROUND 21 Plaintiff filed suit against defendant in Sacramento County Superior Court on 22 December 12, 2017, alleging a violation of the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, California 23 Civil Code section 1790, known as the “lemon law,” based on her lease of an allegedly defective 24 2015 BMW 328i. See Not. of Removal, ECF No. 1, at 8. Defendant removed the action to this 25 court on January 17, 2018. Id. at 1. The parties exchanged initial disclosures and engaged in 26 written discovery over the summer and fall of 2018. Opp’n, ECF No. 29, at 4. Collectively, the 27 parties conducted four depositions. Id. After the parties exchanged expert witness disclosures, 28 but before they filed dispositive motions, they reached a settlement in October of 2019 and 1 notified the court of their agreement under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 68. See ECF Nos. 17, 2 20, 22. The court then entered an Order of Judgment in this case, ECF No. 23, ordering that: 3 defendant shall pay (1) to plaintiff, $24,000, and (2) to the applicable finance company, the sum 4 necessary to pay off the financing of any loan still encumbering the subject vehicle. Order, ECF 5 No. 23, at 1. In addition, the order stated defendant “shall pay plaintiff’s reasonable attorneys’ 6 fees, costs, and expenses, in an amount to be agreed upon or, if the parties cannot agree, in the 7 amount awarded by the court pursuant to a noticed motion.” Id. at 2. 8 Because the parties could not agree on a reasonable attorneys’ fees amount, 9 plaintiff filed the instant motion for attorney’s fees on November 26, 2019. Mot., ECF No. 25-1. 10 Defendant opposes, Opp’n, and plaintiff has replied, Reply, ECF No. 30. The court submitted the 11 motion without a hearing and resolves it here. 12 II. LEGAL STANDARD 13 Attorneys’ fees in Song-Beverly cases are governed by California Civil Code 14 section 1794(d), which provides: 15 If the buyer prevails in an action under this section, the buyer shall be allowed by the court to recover as part of the judgment a sum 16 equal to the aggregate amount of costs and expenses, including attorney’s fees based on actual time expended, determined by the 17 court to have been reasonably incurred by the buyer in connection with the commencement and prosecution of such action. 18 19 Cal. Civ. Code. § 1794(d). The parties do not dispute that plaintiff is entitled to recoup 20 reasonable attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses under the Song-Beverly Act. “The plain wording 21 of the statute requires the trial court to base the fee award upon actual time expended on the case, 22 as long as such fees are reasonably incurred—both from the standpoint of time spent and the 23 amount charged.” Robertson v. Fleetwood Travel Trailers of CA, Inc., 144 Cal. App. 4th 785, 24 817 (2006). 25 “A prevailing buyer has the burden of showing that the fees incurred were 26 ‘allowable,’ were ‘reasonably necessary to the conduct of the litigation,’ and were ‘reasonable in 27 amount.’” Durham v. FCA US LLC, No. 2:17-CV-00596-JLT, 2020 WL 243115, at *3 (E.D. Cal. 28 Jan. 16, 2020) (citing Nightingale v. Hyundai Motor America, 31 Cal. App. 4th 99, 104 (1994); 1 Goglin v. BMW of North America, LLC, 4 Cal. App. 5th 462, 470 (2016)). Under a contingent fee 2 arrangement, “a prevailing buyer represented by counsel is entitled to an award of reasonable 3 attorney fees for time reasonably expended by his or her attorney.” Nightingale, 31 Cal. App. 4th 4 at 105 n.6. 5 If a fee request is opposed, “[g]eneral arguments that fees claimed are excessive, 6 duplicative, or unrelated do not suffice.” Durham, 2020 WL 243115, at *3 (quoting Premier 7 Med. Mgmt. Sys. v. Cal. Ins. Guarantee Assoc., 163 Cal. App. 4th at 550, 564 (2008)). “Rather, 8 the opposing party has the burden to demonstrate the hours spent are duplicative or excessive.” 9 Id. (citing Premier Med. Mgmt. Sys., 163 Cal. App. 4th at 562, 564; Gorman v. Tassajara Dev. 10 Corp., 178 Cal. App. 4th 44, 101 (2009) (“[T]he party opposing the fee award can be expected to 11 identify the particular charges it considers objectionable”)). 12 III. DISCUSSION 13 “The determination of what constitutes a reasonable fee generally begins with the 14 ‘lodestar,’ i.e., the number of hours reasonably expended multiplied by the reasonable hourly 15 rate.” Graciano v. Robinson Ford Sales, Inc., 144 Cal. App. 4th 140, 154 (2006) (quoting PLCM 16 Group, Inc. v. Drexler, 22 Cal.4th 1084, 1095 (2000)); see also Aviles v. Subaru of Am., Inc., No. 17 118CV01544 DAD SKO, 2020 WL 868842, at *2 (E.D. Cal. Feb. 21, 2020) (applying lodestar 18 method to Song-Beverly Act case). 19 “To calculate the ‘lodestar,’ the Court must multiply the number of hours the 20 attorneys reasonably spent on the litigation by the reasonable hourly rate in the community for 21 similar work.” Arias v. Ford Motor Co., No. EDCV181928 PSG SPX, 2020 WL 1940843, at *3 22 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 27, 2020) (citing McElwaine v. U.S. West, Inc., 176 F.3d 1167, 1173 (9th Cir. 23 1999)). Plaintiff seeks recovery of “lodestar” attorney fees of $82,115 along with a “lodestar 24 enhancement” or “multiplier” of 2.0, for a total of $164,230. Mot. at 14. Plaintiff includes a 25 detailed billing record showing how plaintiff reached this amount. Jacobs Decl., Ex. 1, ECF No. 26 25-4. Specifically, plaintiff proposes the following hourly rate and number of hours: 27 ///// 28 ///// 1 2 3

°

° om [oo 14 TOTAL 15 16 | Mot. at 12. 17 Defendant argues plaintiff’ s fee demand is “unreasonable and excessive,” Opp’n at 18 | 4, challenging (1) the attorneys’ rates, (2) the reasonableness of the hours spent, and (3) the 19 | requested lodestar multiplier. See generally Opp’n. The court addresses these arguments in turn. 20 A. Attorneys’ Rates 21 “(D]etermining an appropriate ‘market rate’ for the services of a lawyer is 22 | inherently difficult[.]” Camacho v. Bridgeport Fin., Inc., 523 F.3d 973, 979 (9th Cir. 2008) 23 | (quoting Blum y. Stenson, 465 U.S. 886, 895 n.11 (1984)). To determine a reasonable rate, a 24 | court may refer to “[a]ffidavits of the plaintiffs’ attorney and other attorneys regarding fees in the 25 | community” and rates paid in other cases. United Steelworkers of Am. v. Phelps Dodge Corp., 26 | 896 F.2d 403, 407 (9th Cir. 1990). “The reasonable hourly rate is the rate prevailing in the 27 | community for similar work.” Arias, 2020 WL 1940843, at *3 (citing, inter alia, Gonzalez v. 28 | City of Maywood, 729 F.3d 1196, 1200 (9th Cir. 2013) ¢‘[T]he court must compute the fee award

1 using an hourly rate that is based on the prevailing market rates in the relevant community.”)). 2 “The relevant community is the community in which the court sits.” Id. (citing Schwarz v.

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Bluebook (online)
Seebach v. BMW of North America, LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/seebach-v-bmw-of-north-america-llc-caed-2020.