Connell

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Plaintiffs Christine A. Cummings, et al. move for attorneys’ fees and costs pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988 . Plaintiffs request fees and costs in the amount of $234,891.33. Defendants object, seeking to reduce the award to $23,592.39.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

This suit was brought as a class action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 on behalf of employees of the State of California. Plaintiffs, who are nonunion members, alleged that defendant California State Employees Association, Local 1000 (“CSEA”) was improperly withholding agency fees from their paychecks without providing them with the procedural safeguards mandated by Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson, 475 U.S. 292 , 106 S.Ct. 1066 , 89 L.Ed.2d 232 (1986). The fees were withheld pursuant to collective bargaining agreements that included a provision for the state to deduct and forward to CSEA “fair share” fees for non-member employees in CSEA-represented bargaining units. The “fair share” purportedly represented the non-members’ share of the cost of collective bargaining.

Plaintiffs filed their complaint and moved for a preliminary injunction in November 1999, claiming that notices sent by CSEA in…