Weeks v. Baker & McKenzie
California Court of Appeal
74 Cal. Rptr. 2d 510 (1998)
- Written by Galina Abdel Aziz , JD
Facts
Rena Weeks (plaintiff) sued Martin R. Greenstein for sexual harassment while Weeks was Greenstein’s secretary at Baker & McKenzie (defendant). A jury found Greenstein guilty and awarded Weeks $50,000 in compensatory damages from Greenstein and Baker & McKenzie, $225,000 in punitive damages from Greenstein, $6.9 million in punitive damages from Baker & McKenzie, and $1,847,437.86 in attorney’s fees and expenses. The $6.9 million figure was reduced to $3.9 million by the trial court. The attorney’s fees were calculated by fixing the lodestar, or the reasonable hourly fee multiplied by the number of hours reasonably devoted by each legal representative to the case. Relying on the contingent nature of the award, the difficulty of the litigation, the skills displayed in conducting the litigation, the amounts involved and results obtained, the fact that Weeks’s attorneys rejected other cases to represent Weeks, and the delay in receiving payment, the trial court enhanced the lodestar amount by multiplying it by 1.7. Baker & McKenzie appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Stein, J.)
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