Shin v. Plantronics, Inc.
- Nathanael Cousins
- 5:18-cv-05626
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 7
In Shin v. Plantronics, Judge Cousins granted in part fees, awarding counsel $557,495.74 and Shin $5,000.
Class Counsel received $557,495.74 in fees and costs, and Phil Shin received a $5,000 service award. The order concerns the settlement’s class representatives and participating class members, but it does not change the settlement terms described in this opinion.
What happened
In Shin v. Plantronics, Inc., Phil Shin represented headphone buyers in a class action claiming that Plantronics’s BackBeat FIT headphones did not work as advertised. The parties settled before the court ruled on Plantronics’s motion to dismiss, and the court separately approved the settlement.
Class Counsel requested $650,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs, based on a claimed lodestar of $743,099. The court found the hourly rates reasonable but concluded that the reported hours were excessive because the case settled early and involved little substantial litigation. The court reduced all billed hours by 30 percent and declined to add a bonus to the fee calculation.
Judge Cousins granted in part Shin’s motion for attorneys’ fees, awarding Class Counsel $557,495.74 in fees and costs. The court also awarded Shin a $5,000 service award for his participation and the work and risk involved in bringing the case.
The detailed version
- Shin v. Plantronics, Inc. · No. 5:18-cv-05626
- Nathanael Cousins
- Jan. 31, 2020
Background
Phil Shin brought a consumer class action on behalf of buyers of Plantronics’s BackBeat FIT wireless headphones. The lawsuit alleged that the headphones did not work as advertised. Plantronics moved to dismiss, but the parties reached a settlement before the court ruled on that motion. In a separate order, the court granted final approval of the settlement. This order addressed Class Counsel’s request for attorneys’ fees and costs and Shin’s request for a class-representative service award.
Attorneys’ Fees and Costs
Class Counsel requested $650,000, including $42,210.24 in litigation costs. Counsel estimated a lodestar of $743,099 by multiplying 1,427.9 hours by hourly rates ranging from $125 for legal assistants to $850 for senior attorneys. A lodestar is the number of hours reasonably worked multiplied by reasonable hourly rates.
The court found the hourly rates reasonable and consistent with rates approved in the Northern District of California. It did not find the reported hours reasonable. The court emphasized that the case settled remarkably early, before a ruling on the motion to dismiss, and that there had been little discovery and almost no adversarial motion practice. Counsel reported more than 400 hours for motion practice and legal research, even though the case involved one motion to dismiss, three unopposed settlement-approval motions, and the fee motion. The court also found that counsel’s declarations did not adequately support the claimed time.
The court reduced all billed hours by 30 percent, resulting in an adjusted lodestar of $515,285.50. It declined to apply a lodestar multiplier, finding that the case was not rare or exceptional, the issues were not novel or complex, and the early settlement meant the merits had not been tested. Including $42,210.24 in expenses, the court awarded Class Counsel $557,495.74 in fees and costs.
Service Award
Shin requested a $5,000 service award. The court found that he actively participated in the case and that his participation supported an award. It found $5,000 to be reasonable compensation for the work and risk involved in spearheading the litigation.
Disposition
Judge Cousins granted in part Shin’s motion for attorneys’ fees. The court awarded Class Counsel $557,495.74 in fees and costs and awarded Shin a $5,000 service award.
Read the full 7-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.