CIV537352 BEVERLY M. VIDAL VS. FORD MOTOR COMPANY

BEVERLY M. VIDAL LAUREN A. UNGS

FORD MOTOR CMPANY SPENCER P. HUGRET

MOTION for award of attorneys fees and costs as per

CCP Section 998 settlement.

· GRANTED. Plaintiff Beverly M. Vidal’s Motion For Attorneys Fees, Costs, and Expenses is Granted as set forth below.

On January 4, 2017, Defendant Ford Motor Company served a CCP, Section 998 Offer for $100,000. Plaintiff Vidal accepted the offer on February 17, 2017, and the case was settled on that basis. The Section 998 Offer contains a provision including Ford’s agreement to pay Reasonable Attorneys Fees and Costs of Suit established by Noticed Motion so long as Fees and Costs were not lower than $10,000 and not greater than a lodestar multiplier of 1.00.

This is a lemon law case. On July 31, 2012, Plaintiff Beverly M. Vidal (“P”) purchased a new 2012 Ford Fiesta. P contends that the vehicle was delivered to her with serious defects, and that Defendant Ford Motor Company (“Ford”) knew or should have known about the defects. P sought maintenance at a Ford-authorized repair facility six times over three years, but the problems persisted. Thus, in 2015, P contacted Ford seeking a buyback of the vehicle, but Ford rejected the request. P then filed this action on February 11, 2016, later resolved by the above-noted settlement.

Plaintiff seeks attorney’s fees of $26,887.50 and costs of $1,287.26, for a total of $28,174.76.

Of the $26,887.50 fee request, Defendant Ford Motor Company opposes only $6,412.50 in attorney’s fees for this motion. Defendant claims this motion was unnecessary, and Plaintiff was required to meet and conferred before bringing this motion.

There is no meet and confer requirement prior to bringing a motion for attorney’s fees though. Further, the January 23, 2018 Minute Order reflects that a motion for attorney’s fees will be filed if the parties cannot resolve the issue informally. It does not require that the parties meet and confer before filing this motion. Thus, the Court finds that Plaintiff is entitled to reasonable attorney’s fees for bringing this motion.

In reviewing Plaintiff’s invoice for this motion, Plaintiff included anticipated fees for reviewing the opposition, drafting a reply, and preparing for and attending the hearing on this motion, totaling $4,575 (12.2 hours @ $375/hour). The hourly rate being charged is, in the Court’s opinion, a reasonable rate prevailing in the legal community for this kind of litigation. However, Plaintiff did not file a reply declaration indicating the actual amount of time spent reviewing the opposition and preparing the reply. The Court finds that a reasonable amount of attorney’s fees is $1,500 (4 hours @ $375/hour) for this work. Thus, Plaintiff is awarded $1,500 plus the $1,837.50 for drafting this motion, for a total of $3,337.50 for this motion.

Defendant does not oppose the remaining attorney’s fees of $20,475.00, and costs of $1,287.26.

Therefore, Plaintiff is Awarded attorney’s fees of $23,812.50 and costs of $1,287.26 for a total of $25,099.76, said amount to be paid within 30 days of Notice of this Order as per the accepted Section 998 Offer.