Opinion
No. C-01-1351 T.E.H.
10-11-2011
MARCIANO PLATA, et al., Plaintiffs, v. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, et al., Defendants.
PRISON LAW OFFICE DONALD SPECTER #83925 STEVEN FAMA #99641 ALISON HARDY #135966 BINGHAM McCUTCHEN WARREN E. GEORGE #53588 Attorneys for Plaintiffs Kyle A. Lewis Supervising Deputy Attorney General Attorney for Defendants
PRISON LAW OFFICE
DONALD SPECTER #83925
STEVEN FAMA #99641
ALISON HARDY #135966
BINGHAM McCUTCHEN
WARREN E. GEORGE #53588
Attorneys for Plaintiffs
STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR COLLECTION OF UNDISPUTED ATTORNEYS' FEES AND COSTS FOR 2010
On December 17, 2002, this Court established a procedure by which plaintiffs are to collect attorneys' fees and costs incurred in connection with the Stipulation for Injunctive Relief. This procedure requires plaintiffs' counsel to submit to defendants a quarterly statement of fees incurred in monitoring work, and permits defendants thirty (30) days from the receipt of plaintiffs' statement to notify plaintiffs of any disputed items. After the parties meet and confer on any of defendant's objections, counsel shall then prepare a stipulated order for payment of the fees not subject to defendants' objections. The Order also states that defendants shall have thirty (30) days from the entry of the order to pay the undisputed fees and that interest on any undisputed fees will run from the thirty- first day after the Order is filed, accruing at the rate provided by 28 U.S.C. § 1961.
Pursuant to this procedure, plaintiffs' counsel served their fourth quarter billing statement for the period October 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010 on March 31, 2010. Following a meet and confer, the parties agreed to payment of $221,315 in undisputed fees for the fourth quarter. The attorney market rates referenced in this proposed revision are those contained in Plaintiff's adjusted 2010 billing spreadsheets, and those rates will be for the purposes of calendar year 2010 billings in this matter only.
Additionally, the parties had disputed the hourly rate due for the services of litigation assistants during the first through the third quarters of 2010. Following a subsequent meet and confer, however, the parties agreed that defendants would pay an additional $154,232, based on the hourly rate for litigation assistants of $180.
WHEREFORE, defendants agree to pay plaintiffs' counsel $375,547 within 30 days of the signing of this Order. On the 31st day following the entry of this Order, interest on any unpaid amount will begin to accrue at the rate provided by 28 U.S.C. § 1961 (i.e., the weekly average 1 year constant maturity Treasury yield for the calendar week preceding the date of the Order.)
AGREED TO BY THE PARTIES:
Alison Hardy
Attorney for Plaintiffs
Kyle A. Lewis
Supervising Deputy Attorney General
Attorney for Defendants
I, Alison Hardy, attest that Kyle Lewis signed this document on September 21, 2011.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Judge Thelton E. Henderson