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HEARING ON ATTORNEYS FEES
SF Superior Court - Law & Motion / Discovery Dept 301 - CGC25628077 - December 15, 2025 Hearing date: December 15, 2025 Case number: CGC25628077 Case title: RACHEL MEYER VS. TRACY THOMPSON ET AL Case Number: | | CGC25628077 | Case Title: | | RACHEL MEYER VS. TRACY THOMPSON ET AL | Court Date: | | 2025-12-15 09:00 AM | Calendar Matter: | | HEARING ON ATTORNEYS FEES | Rulings: | | On the Law and Motion/Discovery calendar for December 15, 2025, line 11. HEARING ON ATTORNEYS FEES.
Defendant Tracy Thompson's motion for attorneys' fees and costs is granted. Plaintiff Rachel Meyer shall pay $58,424.75 in fees and costs to Thompson. An award of fees and costs is mandatory to a prevailing defendant on an anti-SLAPP motion. (Code Civ. Proc., 425.16, subd. (c)(1); Ketchum v. Moses (2001) 24 Cal.4th 1122, 1131.) Awarding fees achieves two policy goals: (1) to discourage strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), and (2) to allow defendants faced with such suits to hire private counsel. (Lunada Biomedical v. Nunez (2014) 230 Cal.App.4th 459, 486.)
Meyer argues that the court should not award fees because its decision on the anti-SLAPP motion was in error. That issue is now before the appellate court, and is not a proper consideration on this motion, where a fee award follows as a matter of course from an order granting an anti-SLAPP motion. If this court erred in granting the motion, its fee award will necessarily be vacated as well.
"[A] defendant who brings a successful special motion to strike is entitled only to reasonable attorney fees, and not necessarily to the entire amount requested." (Cabral v. Martins (2009) 177 Cal.App.4th 471, 491.) To determine a reasonable amount, "[t]he amount of an attorney fee award under the anti-SLAPP statute is computed by the trial court in accordance with the familiar lodestar method. Under that method, the court tabulates the attorney fee touchstone, or lodestar, by multiplying the number of hours reasonably expended by the reasonable hourly rate prevailing in the community for similar work." (Id. [quotation marks and citations omitted].)
The court has reviewed the billing records submitted as exhibit F to the Couche declaration and finds them reasonable both as to number of hours and hourly rate. The court discerns no duplication or padding and finds the total bill of $58,424.75 including costs to be reasonable.
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For the 9:00 a.m. calendar, all attorneys and parties may appear in Department 301 remotely or in person. Remote hearings will be conducted by videoconference using Zoom. (Dept. 301 Zoom ID 161 502 4290; Passcode 700956.) To appear remotely at the hearing, go to the court's website at sfsuperiorcourt.org under "Online Services," navigate to "Tentative Rulings," and click on the appropriate link, or dial the corresponding phone number.
Any party who contests a tentative ruling must send an email to contestdept301tr@sftc.org with a copy to all other parties by 4pm stating, without argument, the portion(s) of the tentative ruling that the party contests. The subject line of the email shall include the line number, case name and case number. The text of the email shall include the name and contact information, including email address, of the attorney or party who will appear at the hearing.
Counsel for the prevailing party is required to prepare a proposed order which repeats verbatim the substantive portion of the tentative ruling and must email it to contestdept301tr@sftc.org prior to the hearing even if the tentative ruling is not contested.
The court no longer provides a court reporter in the Law & Motion or Discovery Department. Parties may retain their own reporter, who may appear in the courtroom or remotely. A retained reporter must be a California certified court reporter (CSR), for only a CSR's transcript may be used in California courts. If a CSR is being retained, include in your email all of the following: their name, CSR and telephone numbers, and their individual work email address. =(301/CVA) |