The Law Firm of Kallis & Associates v. Padgett CA6

I. BACKGROUND

Federal Court Proceedings In 2004, Padgett and his then wife filed a civil rights action in federal court against the City of Monte Sereno and several city officials. Law Firms and the Padgetts executed a retainer and general fee agreement in September 2008, and Law Firms substituted in as counsel in the federal court action. Several claims were dismissed or bifurcated, and certain claims against two individual defendants were tried to a jury in 2009. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Padgett on a claim against one defendant. Padgett was awarded $1 in nominal damages and $10,000 in remitted punitive damages. Padgett moved under title 42 United States Code section 1988 for $900,000 in costs and attorney fees exceeding $3.4 million (for pretrial work performed by a different firm, and for pretrial, trial, and appellate work performed by Law Firms). The district court ordered the liable defendant to pay $100,000 in costs and $500,000 in attorney fees. In February 2013, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the order and remanded the matter “for an explanation of how [the district court] used the lodestar method to reduce Padgett’s fees and how it…