Smith v. Smith
- Thomas Hixson
- 3:21-cv-08691
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Smith v. Smith, Judge Hixson returned the case to state court and awarded Kimberlee Smith $1,500 in attorney’s fees.
Kimberlee A Smith and Justin J Smith; the case returns to the Sonoma County Superior Court, and the court awarded Kimberlee $1,500 in attorney’s fees.
What happened
In Smith v. Smith, Kimberlee Smith sued her son, Justin Smith, in Sonoma County Superior Court over student loans she took out for his education. Justin moved the case to federal court, and Kimberlee asked the federal court to send it back.
The court granted Kimberlee’s unopposed request to return the case to Sonoma County Superior Court. It also awarded $1,500 in attorney’s fees, rather than the $2,700 requested, because the court excluded fees for work that had only been anticipated.
Judge Thomas S. Hixson ordered the Clerk of Court to return the case to the Sonoma County Superior Court and terminate the federal case.
The detailed version
- Smith v. Smith · No. 3:21-cv-08691
- Thomas Hixson
- Nov. 30, 2021
Background
Kimberlee Smith brought the case against Justin Smith in Sonoma County Superior Court. The dispute concerned student loans Kimberlee took out for Justin’s education. Justin moved the case from state court to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Kimberlee then filed a motion to remand, meaning she asked the federal court to return the case to state court. She also requested attorney’s fees caused by the removal.
Justin filed a statement saying he did not oppose the motion and found Kimberlee’s cited authorities persuasive.
Rulings
The court granted Kimberlee’s motion to remand the action to the Sonoma County Superior Court. The court stated that Justin had not provided an objectively reasonable basis for removing the case.
The court also found an award of attorney’s fees appropriate under 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c). Kimberlee requested $2,700 based on her attorney’s $300 hourly rate. The court found that rate reasonable but excluded fees for reviewing the opposition, preparing a reply, and attending the hearing because those fees were anticipated rather than incurred on the record described. The court awarded $1,500, calculated as $300 per hour for five hours.
Disposition
Judge Thomas S. Hixson directed the Clerk of Court to remand the matter to the Sonoma County Superior Court and terminate the federal case.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.