Yousef Khraibut v. Gurbaksh Chahal

Opinion

1 2 3 4 7 8 YOUSEF KHRAIBUT, Case No. 15-cv-04463-CRB

9 Plaintiff, ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE RE 10 v. PUNITIVE DAMAGES AND ATTORNEYS' FEES 11 GURBAKSH CHAHAL, et al., 12 Defendants.

13 The Court hereby orders Plaintiff Yousef Khraibut to supplement his Motion for Default 14 Judgment (dkt. 90) on or before March 4, 2021, with additional information. 15 First, the Court orders Khraibut to submit a clear breakdown of his requests for 16 compensatory (economic and noneconomic) and statutory damages—by claim, by Defendant. If a 17 set of claims arises from the same conduct such that one damages award applies to the set, 18 Khraibut should explain as much. And where relevant, Khraibut should cite authority regarding 19 apportioning damages among Defendants (e.g., whether joint and several liability applies). To the 20 extent Khraibut believes Defendants should be held jointly and severally liable for the full amount 21 of compensatory, statutory, and punitive damages sought, without regard to the specific claims 22 asserted against each Defendant, Khraibut must explain his reasoning and cite relevant authority, 23 if such authority exists.1 In general, and as to each claim, the Court will not award damages based 24 on an unclear or conclusory accounting of who is liable for what. 25 Second, in California, a plaintiff must produce evidence of the defendant’s financial 26 1 If certain claims for which damages are sought apply to only one party, or if the Court concludes 27 that only one party is liable for a claim asserted against multiple parties, the Court is not aware of 1 condition for the Court to determine the reasonableness of punitive damages. See Adams v. 2 Murakami, 54 Cal. 3d 105, 110 (1991). A plamtiff must produce evidence of not only a 3 defendant’s spending habits, but also the defendant’s “actual wealth,” including “liabilities” or 4 other evidence going to the defendant’s “ability to pay a punitive damage award.” Baxter v. 5 Peterson, 150 Cal. App. 4th 673, 680—81 (2007). The Court presently lacks sufficient information 6 to determine the reasonableness of Khraibut’s requested punitive damages awards as to 7 Defendants Gurbaksh Chahal and Gravity4. The Court hereby orders Khraibut to submit any 8 additional evidence and argument regarding this issue on or before March 4, 2021. 9 Third, to determine the reasonableness of the attorneys’ fees that Khraibut seeks, the Court 10 must evaluate the reasonableness of time spent on specific tasks. Thus, the Court orders Khraibut 11 to submit a full breakdown of attorney time billed on or before March 4, 2021. 12 With this order, the Court reschedules the hearing currently set for March 4, 2021 to March 13 18, 2021. IT IS SO ORDERED. LE 3 15 Dated: February 18, 2021 CHARLES R. BREYER 2 16 United States District Judge

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