Federal National Mortgage v. Lopez

Filing 13

ORDER GRANTING ATTORNEY'S FEES re (17 in 3:11-cv-03550-EMC) Financial Affidavit filed by Federal National Mortgage Association. Signed by Judge Edward M. Chen on 1/12/12. (bpf, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 1/12/2012)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE
ASSOCIATION,

No. C-11-3550 EMC

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Plaintiff,
v.

ORDER GRANTING ATTORNEY'S
FEES

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For the Northern District of California

United States District Court

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CARLOS LOPEZ,
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Defendant.
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In this Court’s September 2, 2011 order remanding this case to state court, the Court indicated
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that pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c), the Court would require Mr. Lopez to pay Wells Fargo’s “just
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costs and any actual expenses, including attorney fees, incurred as a result of the removal.” The Court
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instructed Plaintiff to file an affidavit detailing any just costs and actual expenses. The Court is now
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in receipt of that affidavit, see Weber Decl., Docket No. 17, and hereby enters the following order.
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“To determine a reasonable attorney fee award, the court employs the lodestar method, under
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which the court multiplies the number of hours the prevailing party reasonably expended on the
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litigation by a reasonable hourly rate.” Baerthlein v. Electronic Data Systems Corp., No. C 05-00196
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VRW, 2005 WL 818381, at *3 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 7, 2005) (citing Yahoo!, Inc. v. Net Games, Inc., 329 F.
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Supp. 2d 1179, 1182 (N.D. Cal. 2004). In this case, counsel only requests three hours of billed time.
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Weber Decl. ¶ 3. The Court finds such a request reasonable given the nature of the remand request in
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this case and sufficient to “reimburse[] to plaintiffs [] wholly unnecessary litigation costs the defendant[]
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inflicted.” Moore v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Inc., 765 F. Supp. 1464, 1466 (N.D. Cal. 1991), aff'd
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981 F.2d 443 (9th Cir.1992). In addition, the Court finds the hourly rate of $190 reasonable, Weber

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Decl. ¶ 3, as it is well within the prevailing rates in this area and under a rate approved by this District

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for § 1447(c) fees over six years ago. See Baerthlein, 2005 WL 818381 at *5 (using an average market

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rate of $200 per hour).

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Accordingly, the Court hereby GRANTS Plaintiff's requested $570 in attorney's fees.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.

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Dated: January 12, 2012
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_________________________
EDWARD M. CHEN
United States District Judge

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For the Northern District of California

United States District Court

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE,
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Case Number: CV11-03550 EMC
Plaintiff,

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
v.

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CARLOS LOPEZ et al,
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Defendant.
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For the Northern District of California

United States District Court

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/

I, the undersigned, hereby certify that I am an employee in the Office of the Clerk, U.S. District Court,
Northern District of California.
That on January 12, 2012, I SERVED a true and correct copy(ies) of the attached, by placing said
copy(ies) in a postage paid envelope addressed to the person(s) hereinafter listed, by depositing said
envelope in the U.S. Mail, or by placing said copy(ies) into an inter-office delivery receptacle located
in the Clerk's office.

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Carlos Lopez
336 West H Street
Dixon, CA 94620

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Dated: January 12, 2012
Richard W. Wieking, Clerk
By: Betty Lee, Deputy Clerk

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