Summers
Summers v. Carvist Corp.
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM ***
Gary Summers and Melanie Murillo, former employees of The Carvist Corporation, appeal the amount of the district court’s award of attorneys’ fees in their ERISA case. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and we vacate the attorneys’ fee award and remand the case to the district court.
A district court must explain how it calculated its attorneys’ fee award amount in “concise but clear” language. Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 437 , 103 S.Ct. 1933 , 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983). It is “important for the district court to provide an adequate explanation of the reasons for its award and the manner in which that award was determined.” Chalmers v. City of Los Angeles, 796 F.2d 1205, 1213 (9th Cir.1986). “Where the difference between the lawyer’s request and the court’s award is relatively small, a somewhat cursory explanation will suffice. But where the disparity is larger, a more specific articulation of the court’s reasoning is expected.” Moreno v. City of Sacramento, 534 F.3d 1106, 1111 (9th Cir.2008).
The proper method for determining the amount of attorneys’ fees in ERISA actions is the “hybrid lodestar/multiplier approach used by the Supreme Court in…