Petropoulos v. FCA US LLC, 3:17-cv-00398

Plaintiffs (Petropoulos & Nelson) sued under the Song–Beverly Act over a defective 2011 Dodge Durango; case removed to federal court on diversity grounds.
Wirtz Law APC associated into the case in January 2017; both Knight Law Group (KLG) and Wirtz billed concurrently through settlement.
Parties settled on August 8, 2018 for $90,921.46 and stipulated Plaintiffs were the prevailing party entitled to fees and costs under Cal. Civ. Code § 1794.
Plaintiffs submitted a Bill of Costs for $20,336.20; the Clerk taxed only $3,203.77, disallowing most witness costs and some administrative items.
Plaintiffs moved for attorney’s fees and to re‑tax costs; Court applied California law (lodestar) to calculate fees and reviewed reasonableness of billed hours/rates.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Proper fee method and amount	Fees recoverable under Song–Beverly; lodestar based on actual time and reasonable rates for both firms totaling $55,780	Contends double billing by two firms and excessive fees	Court applied California lodestar, found $55,780 (79.4 + 66.6 attorney hours across firms minus improper entry) reasonable and awarded that amount
Multiplier for contingent risk	Requests multiplier due to contingent fee arrangements and litigation risk	Opposes enhancement, noting case not novel or public‑interest and two firms billed concurrently	Denied: multiplier inappropriate given nature of claim and concurrent firm billing
Duplicate/unnecessary billing from two firms	Two firms were retained; fees reflect actual, reasonable time across ~29 months	Argues duplication/unreasonable overlap because two firms billed simultaneously	Denied: defendant failed to identify specific duplicative entries; overall hours and average monthly work reasonable
Costs after removal / re‑taxing Clerk’s decision	Song–Beverly and California substantive law govern post‑removal costs; Clerk misapplied federal/local rules and should allow full $20,336.20	Relied on federal/local rules to limit taxed costs	Granted: Court re‑taxed costs in the full amount $20,336.20 and awarded $3,850 in additional fees for litigating the taxation issue (total fees awarded $59,630)

Mangold v. California Pub. Utilities Comm’n, 67 F.3d 1470 (9th Cir.) (state law governs entitlement and calculation of fees in diversity cases)
Doppes v. Bentley Motors, Inc., 174 Cal. App. 4th 967 (Cal. Ct. App.) (lodestar method required under Song–Beverly; fees must be based on actual time reasonably incurred)
Ketchum v. Moses, 24 Cal. 4th 1122 (Cal.) (factors permitting lodestar adjustment and rationale for contingent‑fee multipliers)
Robertson v. Fleetwood Travel Trailers of California, Inc., 144 Cal. App. 4th 785 (Cal. Ct. App.) (factors for augmenting or diminishing lodestar)
Serrano v. Unruh, 32 Cal. 3d 621 (Cal.) (prevailing party entitled to recover fees for securing costs awarded)
Clausen v. M/V New Carissa, 339 F.3d 1049 (9th Cir.) (choice‑of‑law principles: substantive state law applies in diversity cases)