Click here to read Judge Shubb's decision in the National Grange of the Order of the Husbandry vs. California State Grange d/b/a "CSG" (US District; E.D., CA) 9/9/16 awarding our client, the National Grange $144,715.70 in attorney's fees.
The district court held that the National Grange was entitled to reasonable attorney's fees in connection with our motions for contempt and additional injunctive relief that we filed against Defendant earlier this year, which resulted in the issuance of a sweeping April 20 injunction order.
This amount was awarded "because there was 'significant evidence' the (Defendant) willfully and deliberately continued to infringe (the Grange's) trademark rights and engage in unfair competition against (the Grange) following the Court's September, 2015 injunction.
In his 23-page decision, Judge Shubb focuses primarily on the amount of the award, and whether our request for $154,230.80 was reasonable in view of our hourly rates and time expended. The court agreed that our firm's rates were reasonable, but reduced the rate of our Los Angeles local counsel to a rate reasonable under Sacramento prevailing rates.
It is extremely rare for litigants to receive the full amount of attorney's fees requested, and the fact that we were able to recover 94% of our fees is a strong signal from the court as to its willingness to punish Defendant for its wrongdoing, as well as a recognition of our efficiency in litigating this action.
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