Case Number: BC629876 Hearing Date: April 13, 2018 Dept: 74

ACE INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY, INC.,

Plaintiff,

vs.

JUSTIN L. LEHMANN, ET AL.,

Defendants

Case No.: BC629876

[TENTATIVE] ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR ATTORNEY FEES

TENTATIVE RULING: The motion is granted. Defendant Tool Masters is awarded attorney fees of $7600 and costs of $462 payable within 30 days.

DISCUSSION

Defendant moves for attorney fees of $49,037.50 and costs of 713.00 on its special motion to strike the complaint.

A prevailing defendant as to a special motion to strike is entitled to mandatory, reasonable attorney fees and costs. (Code Civ. Proc., § 425.16, subd. (c), Ketchum v. Moses (2001) 24 Cal.4th 1122, 1141-1142.) Even a defendant who has been voluntarily dismissed after filing an anti-SLAPP motion is entitled to costs and attorney’s fees. (Liu v. Moore (1999) 69 Cal. App. 4th 745, 751.)

The court has already made the determination that defendant is entitled to its attorney fees, and is not inclined to reconsider that decision.

It appears defendant seeks fees incurred in its entire defense of the action. Recovery of fees is limited to those fees expended in the filing of the successful anti-SLAPP motion. (Lafayette Morehouse, Inc. v. Chronicle Publishing Co., Inc. (1995) 39 Cal. App. 4th 1379, 1383-1384.)

Defendant has submitted attorney declarations, in which they state in very general terms the tasks they performed on the case, and the total hours they spent. No timesheets or billing records were submitted. Generally, this is sufficient. “It is not necessary to provide detailed billing timesheets to support an award of attorney fees under the lodestar method…. Declarations of counsel setting forth the reasonable hourly rate, the number of hours worked and the tasks performed are sufficient.” (Concepcion v. Amscan Holdings, Inc. (2014) 223 Cal.App.4th 1309, 1324.)

Here, this court requested further evidence if the motion was refiled when the prior motion was denied without prejudice. The attorney declarations provided a marginal amount of additional detail, but did not submit timesheets or billing records.

The special motion to strike in this case was neither cookie-cutter simple as argued by plaintiff, nor complex and difficult as argued by defendant. There are no facts supporting a lodestar enhancement.

The court finds a reasonable attorney fee is $7600. Costs of $462 are awarded.
Fees were calculated at $200 per hour for case attorney and $300 per hour for motion attorney, 12 hours each for the special motion to strike, and 7 hours total for attorney fee motion. One attorney fee motion is included, as the failure of the first motion was due to the attorney’s failure to provide sufficient evidence, also a problem in this motion, and should not be charged to plaintiff. The costs include the first appearance and filing fee. The other costs sought are not recoverable.