Caballero v. Bill Muncey Indus., Inc.

• Decision Date: 17 March 2021
• Docket Number: D076628
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: ISMAEL CABALLERO, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. BILL MUNCEY INDUSTRIES, INC., et al., Defendants and Respondents.

ISMAEL CABALLERO, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. BILL MUNCEY INDUSTRIES, INC., et al., Defendants and Respondents.

D076628

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION ONE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

March 17, 2021

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

(Super. Ct. No. 37-2016-00044114-CU-OE-CTL)

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Joel R. Wohlfeil, Judge. Affirmed.

Fine & Associates, Ali Razi and Paul K. Fine for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Ramey Litigation Group and Christopher L. Ramey for Defendants and Respondents.

INTRODUCTION

Ismael Caballero, who worked as a cook at Galley at the Marina restaurant, sued Fran Muncey (Fran), an individual he believed to own and operate the restaurant, and Bill Muncey Industries, Inc. (Muncey Industries) the corporate entity responsible for the restaurant, for various wage and hour violations and for violation of California Business and Professions Code section 17200 et seq., the Unfair Competition Law (UCL). Following trial, the jury concluded Fran had no liability, but Muncey Industries failed to pay overtime wages and violated wage statement requirements. Judgment was entered against Muncey Industries for unpaid overtime and wage statement violations in the amount of $6,958.36. Caballero subsequently moved for attorney fees in the amount of $168,749.47, representing the full value of the services, based on his success on the overtime and wage statement causes of action against Muncey Industries. The court awarded $17,234, explaining it had apportioned the attorney fees based on Caballero's limited success; the court also recognized that some of the billing entries may have been excessive or duplicative.

Caballero appeals, contending the court improperly apportioned the attorney fees. We conclude the court did not abuse its discretion, and we will affirm.

BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL FACTS

In December 2016, Caballero filed suit in an individual and representative capacity¹ against Fran, who Caballero alleged was the owner, manager, and person in charge of the restaurant, and DOES 1-50. He alleged four causes of action: (1) failure to pay overtime compensation (Labor Code,² §§ 203, 510, 515, subd. (d), & 1198); (2) failure to provide meal andrest period breaks (§ 226.7); (3) failure to provide itemized wage statements; and (4) violation of the UCL (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17200 et seq.).

Caballero requested a default judgment against Fran in February 2017; the default judgment was later vacated in March 2017. Shortly thereafter, Caballero amended the complaint to name Muncey Industries in place of DOE 1. Fran and Muncey Industries filed separate answers.

The case eventually proceeded to trial in May 2018, where the jury concluded Muncey Industries paid Caballero a rate lower than legal overtime for the overtime hours he had worked, and it owed Caballero $2,958.36. The jury also concluded the wage statements Caballero received did not accurately reflect the regular and overtime work and wages earned, and the failure to provide those statements was knowing and intentional by Muncey Industries. The jury further concluded that Fran did not fail to pay proper overtime or provide inaccurate wage statements, and it concluded Fran did not owe Caballero any wages. Finally, the jury determined that Caballero was not denied an opportunity to take meal breaks or rest breaks by either defendant.

In August 2018, the defendants filed a motion for entry of judgment as to conclusions of law regarding Caballero's PAGA and class claims, as well as the UCL cause of action.³ The court granted the motion regarding Fran and granted it as to Muncey Industries regarding the PAGA and class claims, but it denied the claim for relief regarding the UCL.

Caballero filed a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and contended, among other things, that there was an inconsistency in the verdict because the jury determined the wage statements were defective but did notaward any mandatory penalties associated with such a conclusion. The court ordered a new trial on the wage statement cause of action against Muncey Industries only.

On the day the retrial was scheduled to commence, Fran testified that Muncey Industries was responsible for the wage statements, and its failure to provide an accurate wage statement was knowing and intentional. After Fran testified, the court concluded all the issues necessary for jury resolution had been resolved, and no second trial occurred.

In a follow-up discussion about the causes of action on which Caballero prevailed, Caballero's attorney argued that Caballero had prevailed on the UCL claim but acknowledged he was not seeking any equitable relief and simply wanted to prevent defense counsel from claiming defendants had prevailed on that cause of action. Defense counsel disputed Caballero's claim that Caballero had prevailed on the UCL cause of action. The court did not resolve the dispute.

The court told the parties: "[I]n part, plaintiff has now prevailed in this case. In part, and given the fact that Ms. Muncey has been fully vindicated, maybe in large part, the defense has prevailed. [¶] What this case seems to have come down to is a request for fees and costs. Mostly fees for plaintiff's side. And that's not unreasonable. But everyone should be mindful, given how familiar I have become to this case, that I will take—and I'm going to make a decision on the amount of fees that the Court will necessarily take into account the degree of success that each side has achieved in this case. [¶] So for every hundred dollars, for example, that plaintiff has invested in this case in fees, that will be discounted by some facet. I'm not trying to beat you up—I'm looking at the plaintiff—but there will be some degree of discount because the defense has prevailed in some significant respect."

In Caballero's subsequent motion for attorney fees, he sought $168,749.47, arguing he had prevailed on the overtime and wage statement claims and was entitled to attorney fees as a matter of law under sections 226 and 1194. He argued the number of hours expended on the case and the hourly rate were reasonable.

Defendants opposed the motion, challenging the hourly rate, the number of hours, and several specific billing entries. Defendants also argued attorney fees were only recoverable on the statutory causes of action and only against Muncey Industries, so the court should apportion attorney fees on those bases.

At the hearing on the motion to award attorney fees, Caballero's attorney argued the claims could not be apportioned because they were intertwined. The attorney maintained that apportionment would be inappropriate because all the time spent in litigation related to time cards, including the claims providing for statutory attorney fees.

The court awarded $17,234 in attorney fees. It noted Caballero's partial success, prevailing on two of the claims and against only one defendant. The court used the attorneys' hourly rate of $350.00 and acknowledged some of the entries could have been excessive or duplicative, but it credited the attorneys with the full number of hours submitted to the court, then assigned a 10 percent value, labeled as "apportionment" to reduce the overall attorney fees to reflect Caballero's limited success. In some language added after taking the matter under submission, the court noted it was proper to apportion the attorney fees to account for unsuccessful claims including when there are allegations of meal and rest period violations, which do not permit awards of attorney fees.

DISCUSSION

IATTORNEY FEE AWARD

A. Standard of Review

"The amount of an attorney fee to be awarded is a matter within the sound discretion of the trial court." (Akins v. Enterprise Rent-A-Car Co. (2000) 79 Cal.App.4th 1127, 1134 (Akins).) "[W]e will not disturb that determination unless we are convinced it is clearly wrong." (Id. at p. 1134, citing Serrano v. Priest (1977) 20 Cal.3d 25, 49.) A trial court abuses its discretion when its ruling exceeds the bounds of reason taking into consideration all circumstances before it. (Erickson v. R.E.M. Concepts, Inc. (2005) 126 Cal.App.4th 1073, 1083 (Erickson).) A ruling that constitutes an abuse of discretion is " 'so irrational or arbitrary that no reasonable person could agree with it.' " (Sargon Enterprises, Inc. v. University of Southern California (2012) 55 Cal.4th 747, 773 (Sargon).) "The only proper basis of reversal of the amount of the attorney fees award is if the amount awarded is so large or small that it shocks the conscience and suggests that passion and prejudice influenced the determination." (Akins, at p. 1134.)

B. Legal Principles

We begin with a discussion of the types of apportionment that a court considers when awarding attorney fees in a situation like the one before us. One type of apportionment involves allocating attorney fees when causes of action for which attorney fees are provided by statute are joined by causes of action for which attorney fees are not permitted. In such cases, "the prevailing party may recover only on the statutory cause of action." (Akins, supra, 79 Cal.App.4th at p. 1133.) For example, in Bell v. Vista Unified School Dist. (2000) 82 Cal.App.4th 672 (Bell), the plaintiff sued the schooldistrict for failure to comply with the Brown Act and for tort damages. (Id. at p. 680.) The plaintiff was entitled to statutory attorney fees only for the Brown Act violations, which comprised four of the 15 causes of action. (Ibid.) Neither party in the action attempted to apportion fees, and blocked-billing statements made it nearly impossible to break down hours on a task-by-task basis between the two...