Lowery v. Account Outsourcing Group, LLC

Filing 21

ORDER signed by District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller on 8/9/2018 GRANTING 19 Motion for Attorney Fees in the amount of $2,540.00 and costs in the amount of $620.00 as set forth in the Order. (York, M)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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LORETTA LOWERY,

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Plaintiff,

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No. 2:16-cv-03007-KJM-KJN

v.

ORDER

ACCOUNT OUTSOURCING GROUP,
LLC, a Delaware limited liability company,
and DOES 1-10 inclusive.,

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Defendants.

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This matter is before the court on plaintiff’s unopposed motion for reasonable

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attorney’s fees and costs. Mot., ECF No. 19. The matter was submitted on the court’s own

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motion on January 22, 2018. ECF No. 20; Local Rule 230(g). As explained below, the court

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GRANTS plaintiff’s motion.

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I.

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BACKGROUND
Plaintiff brought this action for damages against defendant alleging violations of

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the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1692, and the California

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Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“RFDCPA”), Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1788–1788.32.

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Compl. ¶ 8, ECF No. 1. On February 21, 2017, the Clerk of the Court entered defendant’s default

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due to its failure to respond to the complaint. ECF No. 8. Judgment was entered in plaintiff’s

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favor against defendant awarding plaintiff $1,000.00 in statutory damages on September 25,
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2017. ECF No. 15. Plaintiff filed the instant motion for attorneys’ fees and costs on December 8,

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2017. Mot. The motion is unopposed.

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II.

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LEGAL STANDARD
The FDCPA provides that a plaintiff may recover “the costs of the action, together

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with a reasonable attorney's fee as determined by the court.” 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(a)(3); see

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Johnson v. Credit Int'l, No. 05-16696, 2007 WL 3332813 (9th Cir. 2007) (awarding attorneys'

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fees under the FDCPA). Under the RFDCPA, “the prevailing party shall be entitled to costs of

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the action. Reasonable attorney's fees, which shall be based on time necessarily expended to

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enforce the liability, shall be awarded to a prevailing debtor.” Cal. Civ. Code § 1788.30(c); see

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Gouskos v. Aptos Village Garage, Inc., 94 Cal. App. 4th 754, 764 (2001) (awarding attorneys'

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fees under the RFDCPA). “The starting point for determining a reasonable fee is the ‘lodestar’

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figure, which is the number of hours reasonably expended multiplied by a reasonable hourly

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rate.” Gates v. Deukmejian, 987 F.2d 1392, 1397 (9th Cir. 1992). “Although in most cases, the

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lodestar figure is presumptively a reasonable fee award, the district court may, if circumstances

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warrant, adjust the lodestar to account for other factors which are not subsumed within it.”

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Ferland v. Conrad Credit Corp., 244 F.3d 1145, 1149 n.4 (9th Cir. 2001). The court must

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articulate “the reasons for its findings regarding the propriety of the hours claimed or for any

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adjustment it makes either to the prevailing party's claimed hours or to the lodestar.” Id. at 1148

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(quoting Gates, 987 F.2d at 1398). “[T]he established standard when determining a reasonable

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hourly rate is ‘the rate prevailing in the community for similar work performed by attorneys of

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comparable skill, experience and reputation,’” and the burden is on the requesting party to

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establish the rate. Camacho v. Bridgeport Financial, Inc., 523 F.3d 973, 971 (9th Cir. 2008)

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(resolving fees in FDCPA case; quoting Barjon v. Dalton, 132 F.3d 496, 502 (9th Cir. 1997)).

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“Affidavits of the plaintiffs' attorney and other attorneys regarding prevailing fees in the

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community, and rate determinations in other cases, particularly those setting a rate for the

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plaintiffs’ attorney, are satisfactory evidence of the prevailing market rate.” United Steelworkers

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of Am. v. Phelps Dodge Corp., 896 F.3d 403, 407 (9th Cir. 1990) (relied on by the court in

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Camacho, supra.).
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III.

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DISCUSSION
Plaintiff seeks $2,540.00 in attorneys’ fees and $620.00 in costs. Mot. at 6.

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Plaintiff’s attorney Katherine A. Sandoval (“Sandoval”) claims that she spent 5.5 hours on behalf

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of plaintiff in this matter. Mot. at 5–6. She asserts the reasonable rate for her services is $250 per

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hour. Mot. at 6. She also seeks $125 per hour for 7.7 hours of work performed by her law clerk

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and $75 per hour for her legal assistant’s 2.7 hours of work. Mot. at 6. Sandoval has provided

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the court with her own declaration in support of the motion identifying her hourly rate, and the

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work she and her co-workers performed on plaintiff’s case. Decl. of Katherine A. Sandoval, ECF

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No. 19-1. While not including the information in her declaration, she has detailed in the motion

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her experience since 2015 as a consumer protection attorney. Mot. at 5. Sandoval’s hours spent

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on the case and hourly rate are consistent with those found appropriate in other cases decided in

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this district. See Gauchat-Hargis v. Forest River, Inc., No. 2:11-cv-2737 KJM EFB, 2013 WL

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4828594, at *10 (E.D. Cal. Sept. 9, 2013) (“Courts in the Eastern District repeatedly have found

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$250 per hour to be a reasonable rate for attorneys bringing actions under the Fair Debt

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Collection Practices Act.”); Esget v. TCM Financial Servs. LLC, 2014 WL 258837, at *10 (E.D.

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Cal. Jan. 23, 2014) (“The Court’s review of some of the most recent attorney fee awards in

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FDCPA cases indicate that the most common hourly rate awarded to plaintiff’s counsel in

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FDCPA cases is $250.”); see also Mulvihill v. St. Amant & Assocs., No. 2:13-cv-0080-TLN-

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DAD, 2014 WL 1665229, at *4 (E.D. Cal. Apr. 24, 2014) (awarding experienced FDCPA

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attorney $290 per hour). The costs of $620.00 are also reasonable. See Valentin v. Grant

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Mercantile Agency, Inc., No. 117CV01019AWISKO, 2017 WL 6604410, at *12 (E.D. Cal. Dec.

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27, 2017) (awarding $510.00 in costs, which included the $400.00 filing fee and cost for service

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in FDCPA case); Meyer v. ARS Nat. Servs., Inc., No. C07-6422, 2008 WL 3979466, at *2 (N.D.

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Cal. Aug. 26, 2008) (awarding $559.60 in costs in similar FDCPA case). Given that her motion is

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unopposed, and that she has provided the minimally essential information to support her request,

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plaintiff’s motion will be granted.

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IV.

CONCLUSION
The motion for attorney’s fees in the amount of $2,540.00 and costs in the amount

of $620.00 is GRANTED as set forth above.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATED: August 9, 2018.

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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