All About the Lodestar

Warren v. Kia Motors Am., Inc., No. E068348 (D4d2 Dec. 12, 2018)

Plaintiff won a jury verdict for about $17 grand on a Song-Beverly Act claim over a defective Kia Forte. That gave her a statutory right to attorneys’ fees under the Act. She submitted a fee motion for $350k in lodestar from 16 different lawyers, requesting a 1.5 multiple. The trial court ultimately awarded only $115k citing a “disconnect” between the damages and the billed time, giving an effective lodestar multiple of .33.