Heyen

INTRODUCTION

At the conclusion of wage and hour litigation that spanned almost 10 years, plaintiff Linda Heyen (Heyen) recovered approximately $26,000 in unpaid overtime against her former employers, Safeway Inc. and The Vons Companies, Inc. (collectively, Safeway or defendants). Heyen then sought statutory attorney fees of $1,512,794.50, and the court granted her request in part, awarding fees of $603,150. Both Heyen and Safeway appeal from the attorney fee award. Heyen contends that the award is impermissibly small, and specifically urges that the trial court erred by reducing her fees to reflect her limited success at trial. Safeway contends that the award is impermissibly large because the trial court applied a lodestar that included inflated hourly rates, compensated Heyen’s attorneys for work done before Heyen became a party to the litigation, and double counted certain factors relevant to the fee award. We affirm the attorney fee award in its entirety. The amount of an attorney fee award is a matter within the sound discretion of the trial court, which is the best judge of the value of professional services rendered. While the trial court’s judgment is subject to our…