There were no Ninth Circuit opinions today, and only this opinion from the Court of Appeal. About which I might normally say not much at all.
It nonetheless struck me as fairly unusual that the plaintiff in this case filed a lawsuit (a Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case), conducted discovery, and went all the way through a trial as well as subsequent post-trial briefing (e.g., to recover fees) and expended, in its entirety, exactly $12,100 in fees.
That's an amazingly small number. Twelve grand for an entire lawsuit and trial? Wow. No wonder the trial court was willing to grant the plaintiff all the fees he requested, and that the Court of Appeal was willing to affirm despite the amounts being block billed, not supported by individual attorney declarations, etc.
It's such a small number. Of course plaintiff spent that much. Indeed, I'd have thought they'd have spent tons more than that.
Plaintiff also prevails on appeal, and is awarded his costs and fees there as well. I'd suspect those would likely be another $12,000 or so as well, or more. (I'd say "more" for virtually anyone, but if you're only charging $12,000 for an entire litigation, I guess you're probably not charging more for that for defending the appeal, no?)
In any event, probably not such a great decision for the debt collector here to appeal. Should have just left well enough alone at the outset.
