A recent Law 360 story by Lauren Berg, “Attys for ‘Eviscerated’ Uber Driver Class Win $1.2M in Fees,” reports that Uber owes $1.2 million in attorney fees after an "eviscerated" class of drivers prevailed in their suit accusing the company of taking safety fees out of their fares, a California federal judge ordered, far short of the $3.3 million the drivers' counsel asked for.  U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found an award of $1.2 million in attorney fees is reasonable and rejected the Uber drivers' argument that their counsel is entitled to a multiplier for a total of more than $3.3 million because they obtained a "rare merits victory" when their motion for summary judgment was granted in the class action.

In their motion for attorney fees, the class counsel arrived at their number by multiplying an hourly rate-based lodestar by 2.5 in light of numerous factors, including the nearly $1.9 million won on behalf of the class members.  Early in the case, the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion in unrelated litigation against Uber that "all but dictated" that the court require 98 percent of putative class members to take their claims to individual arbitration, slashing a putative class of hundreds of thousands of Uber drivers to a certified class of 9,600.

"Even though the Ninth Circuit's opinion eviscerated the putative class, removing hundreds of thousands of class members from the putative class and reducing the damages at issue from tens of millions of dollars to approximately two million — class counsel did not give up on the litigation (or settle the case for a reduced value)," the class' motion for attorney fees said.  "Class counsel fought for the class and obtained the most compensation possible."

With all these factors, class counsel said it was entitled to an exceptional amount of attorney fees.  Judge Rogers disagreed, however, and said this is not a "rare" or "exceptional" case that warrants a multiplier.  "The court does not doubt class counsel's skill and conviction in litigating this action to a successful judgment on behalf of the class," the judge wrote.  "However, this case involved straightforward contract interpretation. Nothing more."

In her order, Judge Rogers awarded the class counsel a little more than $27,000 in reimbursable costs after she excluded $23,164 for travel expenses, $10,000 paid to their fees expert and $315 for lunch expenses.  The judge also awarded $5,000 to each of the named plaintiffs — Matthew Clark, Ryan Cowden, Dominicus Rooijackers and Jason Rosenberg — as incentive awards, according to the order.  "Named plaintiffs have been litigating this case for years, during which time they have reviewed pleadings and motions, consulted with class counsel, were each deposed and conducted documents searches," the judge wrote.