Laffitte

discussion in Serrano III of how a reasonable attorney fee is calculated was made in connection with an award under the ―private attorney general‖ doctrine. (See id. at pp. 43–47.) We clarify today that when an attorney fee is awarded out of a common fund preserved or recovered by means of litigation (see Serrano III, supra, at p. 35), the award is not per se unreasonable merely because it is calculated as a percentage of the common fund.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Three related wage and hour class action lawsuits were filed against Robert Half International Inc., a staffing firm, and related companies (hereafter collectively Robert Half) in Los Angeles County Superior Court. In September 2012, the parties jointly moved for an order conditionally certifying a settlement class and preliminarily approving a settlement. The trial court granted the motion and preliminarily approved the settlement. With the court‘s permission, the proposed settlement was amended in November 2012. Under the settlement agreement as amended, Robert Half would pay a gross settlement amount of $19 million. It was agreed class counsel would request attorney fees of not more than $6,333,333.33…

A class action employment lawsuit settled before trial for $19 million, with the agreement that no more than a third of that recovery would go to class counsel as attorney fees. In seeking the trial court’s approval of the settlement, class counsel sought the maximum fee amount, $6,333,333.33. After considering information from class counsel on the hours they had worked on the case, applicable hourly fees, the course of the pretrial litigation, and the potential recovery and litigation risks involved in the case, the trial court—over the objection of one class member—approved the settlement and awarded counsel the requested fee.

The objecting class member contends the trial court’s award of an attorney fee calculated as a percentage of the settlement amount violates a holding of this court in Serrano v. Priest (1977) 20 Cal.3d 25 [ 141 Cal.Rptr. 315 , *486 569 P.2d 1303 ] (Serrano III), 1 to the effect that every fee award must be calculated on the basis of time spent by the attorney or attorneys on the case. (See Serrano III, at p. 48, fn. 23.) We disagree. Our discussion in Serrano III of how a reasonable attorney fee is calculated was made in connection with an award…

Concurring.—Appellant David Brennan devotes the lion’s share of his briefing to issues beyond today’s holding that trial courts may use the percentage method instead of the lodestar method to award attorneys’ fees from a common fund. He argues that the lodestar method as applied does not comply with Serrano v. Priest (1977) 20 Cal.3d 25 [ 141 Cal.Rptr. 315 , 569 P.2d 1303 ] (Serrano III); that courts demand too little documentation of attorney hours and do not subject such documentation to careful scrutiny; that named plaintiffs do not adequately monitor class counsel; and that courts using the percentage method, including the trial court in this case, have applied percentage numbers drawn from individual contingent fee cases without taking into account the economies of scale in class representation. To remedy these alleged abuses, Brennan urges us to explicitly state the requirements of the lodestar methodology, to require appointment of class guardians to protect absent class members through adversarial representation, and to appoint fee experts for absent class members where class counsel retains such an expert.

Although the court declines to address these arguments, I write…