Sugarman v. Ducati North America, Inc

Filing 106

ORDER AWARDING ATTORNEY FEES, EXPENSES AND SERVICE AWARDS. Signed by Judge Jeremy Fogel on 1/12/2012. (jflc2, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 1/12/2012)

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                                                                                                                                           1 2 3 4 5 6 Eric H. Gibbs (State Bar No. 178658) Dylan Hughes (State Bar No. 209113) Geoffrey A. Munroe (State Bar No. 228590) Amy M. Zeman (State Bar No. 273100) GIRARD GIBBS LLP 601 California Street, 14th Floor San Francisco, CA 94108 Telephone: (415) 981-4800 Facsimile: (415) 981-4846 E-mail: ehg@girardgibbs.com 7 8 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SAN JOSE DIVISION 10 11 12 13 JONAS SUGARMAN and QUANG LE, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, 14 15 16 17 Plaintiffs, vs. Case No. 5:10-cv-05246-JF [PROPOSED] ORDER AWARDING ATTORNEY FEES, EXPENSES AND SERVICE AWARDS DUCATI NORTH AMERICA, INC., Defendant. 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 ORDER AWARDING ATTORNEY FEES, EXPENSES AND SERVICE AWARDS CASE NO. 5:10-CV-05246-JF                                                                                                                                            1 This matter came before the Court for hearing on January 06, 2012, pursuant to the Order 2 Granting Preliminary Approval of Class Settlement dated September 16, 2011, and on Plaintiffs’ 3 motion for an award of attorney fees, expenses and service awards. Due and adequate notice having 4 been given to the members of the class and having considered all papers filed and proceedings had in 5 this matter, the Court finds as follows: 6 1. In settlement of Plaintiffs’ claim for attorney fees and costs under two state statutes— 7 California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 1780(e), and California’s private attorney 8 general statute, Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1021.5—Defendant Ducati North America, Inc. (“Ducati”) has 9 agreed to pay $835,000 to class counsel, Girard Gibbs LLP. 10 2. The Court has reviewed the parties’ agreement, the evidence submitted by class counsel 11 of the work performed in the case, the time spent performing that work, and their hourly rates, and finds 12 the parties’ agreed-upon award of $835,000 to be reasonable. 13 3. The Court finds that class counsel reasonably spent 1,929 hours representing the class’s 14 interests through this litigations, finds class counsel’s hourly rates to be reasonable and in line with the 15 prevailing rates in the community for complex class action litigation, and therefore finds that the 16 lodestar value of class counsel’s services is $813,415.75. 17 4. The Court has also considered the factors that can support upward or downward 18 adjustments of class counsel’s lodestar under California law and finds that those factors—in particular, 19 the contingency risk that class counsel faced in pursuing this lawsuit and the results they obtained on 20 behalf of the class—support an upward adjustment. 21 5. Based on the Court’s lodestar analysis under California law, the Court finds Ducati’s 22 agreement to pay class counsel $835,000 in settlement of class counsel’s fee claims to be reasonable. 23 The Court finds no evidence that Ducati has agreed to pay a fee measurably higher than it could 24 conceivably have to pay were the fee amount litigated, which might suggest that class members’ 25 interests were compromised in exchange for Ducati’s agreement to pay an inflated fee award. 26 27 6. Accordingly, the Court approves the fee award pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(h) and awards Girard Gibbs costs and fees in the amount of $835,000. 28 1 ORDER AWARDING ATTORNEY FEES, EXPENSES AND SERVICE AWARDS CASE NO. 5:10-CV-05246-JF                                                                                                                                            1 2 3 7. The Court further awards Jonas Sugarman, Quang Le, Jerrick Torres, and Frank White $1,500 each for their service on behalf the class. IT IS SO ORDERED. 4 5 6 7 Dated: ____________, 2012 ________________________________ The Honorable Jeremy Fogel United States District Judge 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 ORDER AWARDING ATTORNEY FEES, EXPENSES AND SERVICE AWARDS CASE NO. 5:10-CV-05246-JF

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