Jordan v. Paul Financial, LLC

Filing 440

ORDER TO PRODUCE RECORDS FOR FEE APPLICATION due 11/14/13. (Illston, Susan) (Filed on 11/12/2013) Modified on 11/12/2013 (ysS, COURT STAFF).

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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United States District Court
For the Northern District of California

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No. C 07-04496 SI

GREGORY M. JORDAN, et al.,

ORDER TO PRODUCE RECORDS FOR
FEE APPLICATION

Plaintiff,
v.
PAUL FINANCIAL, LLC, et al.,
Defendant.

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Currently before the Court is class counsel’s motion for attorneys’ fees and costs. Dkt. No. 433.

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“[C]ourts have an independent obligation to ensure that the award, like the settlement itself, is

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reasonable, even if the parties have already agreed to an amount.” In re Bluetooth Headset Products

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Liab. Litig., 654 F.3d 935, 941 (9th Cir. 2011). The Ninth Circuit has approved two different methods

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for calculating a reasonable attorneys’ fee: the lodestar and percentage-of-recovery methods. Id. at 941-

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42. The Ninth Circuit encourages courts “to guard against an unreasonable result by cross-checking

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their calculations against a second method.” Id. at 944.

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Class counsel has provided the Court insufficient evidence to calculate the lodestar amount or

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compare the lodestar amount with the reasonable percentage award. Counsel has provided the Court

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with only a single declaration from one attorney involved in the case which asserts that “[b]ased on

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contemporaneous, daily time records regularly prepared and maintained” by counsel, the “total hourly

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billing amount for the work performed by the partners, associates, and professional support staff of those

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firms . . . is well over $2 million.” Dkt. No. 433-1 ¶ 26. Counsel has provided no documentation of the

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hourly billing rates, hours worked, substantive work performed or details regarding the qualifications

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or even identities of the lawyers involved in the case. The Court is thus unable to evaluate the

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reasonableness of the stated lodestar.

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The Court recognizes that counsel seeks an award of fees substantially less than its stated
lodestar amount. Nevertheless, the record at present is insufficient to evaluate the fee application.

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Class counsel is accordingly directed to file with the Court a sworn, written description detailing

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the projects and tasks completed by each lawyer involved in the case, their respective hourly billing

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rates, and total hours worked on the case by Thursday, November 14.

United States District Court
For the Northern District of California

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IT IS SO ORDERED.

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Dated: November 12, 2013

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SUSAN ILLSTON
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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