UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

Transcription

1 Case :-cv-00-fmo-kes Document - Filed // Page of Page ID #:0 0 STANLEY LAW GROUP MATTHEW J. ZEVIN, SBN: 0 00 Willow Creek Road, Suite 00 San Diego, CA Telephone: () -0 Facsimile: () - mzevin@aol.com THE EMGE FIRM, LLP DEREK J. EMGE, SBN: 0 0 W. Broadway, Suite 0 San Diego, CA 0 Telephone: () -00 Facsimile: () -0 derek@emgelawfirm.com Attorneys for Plaintiff Cynthia E. Spann and Class Counsel 0 CYNTHIA E. SPANN, Individually and On Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated, v. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA Plaintiff, J. C. PENNEY CORPORATION, INC., a Delaware Corporation; and DOES through 0, inclusive, Defendants. Case No. SACV-0 FMO(KESx) CLASS ACTION DECLARATION OF DAVID A. HUCH IN SUPPORT OF UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR ATTORNEYS FEES, LITIGATION COSTS AND CLASS REPRESENTATIVE S ENHANCEMENT PAYMENT Judge: Honorable Fernando M. Olguin Ctrm: th Floor Date: Time: TBD TBD

2 Case :-cv-00-fmo-kes Document - Filed // Page of Page ID #: 0 0 I, DAVID A. HUCH, declare:. I am an attorney at law duly licensed to practice in the State of California and before this Court. I am co-counsel of record for Plaintiff Cynthia E. Spann. I have personal knowledge of the facts and matters stated herein and if called as a witness, I could and would competently testify to the following.. My legal practice consists of plaintiff contingency cases, including consumer fraud and employment class actions. I was admitted to the State Bar of California in 00.. Over the past eleven years, I have represented plaintiffs in both class and non-class consumer and employment litigation and have recovered more than $,000, on behalf of consumers and employees during that time. I have been appointed as Class Counsel for a certified Class on more than twenty class actions in the United States District Court, Central District of California; Los Angeles County Superior Court; Orange County Superior Court; Riverside County Superior Court; and San Diego County Superior Court.. Prior to my work as a sole practitioner, I was employed as in-house counsel at Sempra Energy in San Diego, California. My legal practice in the Sempra Energy Law Department was focused on employment law, ERISA, antitrust and competition litigation, and trade regulation. While at Sempra Energy, I worked closely with outside counsel at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher on the Natural Gas Anti-Trust Cases I, II, III and IV, JCCP in San Diego County Superior Court.. While employed in San Diego County during years 00 and 00, I was listed as one of the Top Attorneys (Semi-finalists) by the San Diego Daily Transcript. This rating system by my peers in San Diego County rated myself as one of the top 0 consumer and employment litigation attorneys in all of San Diego County, in the company of senior partners from national law firms Latham & Watkins LLP, Cooley Godward Kronish LLP and Allen Matkins et al. LLP.

3 Case :-cv-00-fmo-kes Document - Filed // Page of Page ID #: 0 0. During the course of the present action, which was originally filed on February, 0, my law practice has gone through several changes. From October 0 through July 0, I worked as a sole practitioner out of an office in San Bernardino County in Ontario, California. In August 0, I formed a limited liability partnership with attorney Dean A. Schiffman. Our firm, Schiffman & Huch, LLP, was located in Orange County in Irvine, California until July 0. In July 0, Mr. Schiffman unexpectedly passed away as a result of a malignant brain tumor. In August 0, I went back to work as a sole practitioner in Ontario, California. The lodestar calculations contained in this Declaration are based upon (a) my individual billing records as a sole practitioner in Ontario, California during the time periods of October 0 to August 0 and August 0 to the present; and (b) my individual billing records at Schiffman & Huch, LLP during the time period of August 0 to August 0.. Mr. Schiffman was admitted to the State Bar of California during 00. He held a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California San Diego (UCSD). Prior to practicing law, he was a Professor of Economics at UCSD and University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. From 00 to 0, Mr. Schiffman acted as lead counsel in a wide variety of legal matters, including class actions, white collar criminal defense and trust litigation. In addition to practicing law, he also provided expert witness and consulting services in Statistics and Economics in numerous class action matters in state and federal court.. I have litigated the claims alleged in the present action over the past three years and ten months and have participated in numerous aspects of this case since the initial filing of the present action during February 0. Throughout the course of the present class action litigation, I have accrued. hours of billable time.. My work on the present action can be categorized into the following categories of work: legal research; drafting of pleadings, amendments thereto and

4 Case :-cv-00-fmo-kes Document - Filed // Page of Page ID #: 0 0 stipulations; drafting of written discovery, including Plaintiff's First Set of Interrogatories and First Set of Requests for Production of Documents; drafting of various Motions, including Motion to Amend Scheduling Order, Motion for Leave to Amend to file Third Amended Complaint, Motion to Strike Defendant's Answer to Complaint, Motion for Attorneys' Fees, Litigation Costs and Class Representative's Enhancement Payment, and reviewing and editing all other motions filed in this action; meeting with and otherwise communicating with the Named Plaintiff Cynthia E. Spann, including preparing Ms. Spann for her deposition; consulting with law partner Dean A. Schiffman on various topics for which Mr. Schiffman had expertise, including Plaintiff's restitution theories, the scope and application of California's False Advertising Law's "prevailing market price" definition and JC Penney's distribution systems; consulting with an IT expert witness on JC Penney's storage, retention, archiving and production of sales data and consumer purchase history; reviewing and summarizing numerous deposition transcripts; tracking JC Penney's advertised prices online, in-store and on print advertisements over the past five years; reviewing JC Penney's securities and exchange filings and public statements, including public information regarding its promotional strategies and financial condition; attendance and participation in mediation sessions, including drafting and re-drafting mediation briefs; reviewing the comprehensive settlement agreement, including class notices, claim form and proposed order; and drafting and/or reviewing all filings in support of Motion for Preliminary Approval of Class Action Settlement. 0. My reasonable hourly rate for my billable time on this class action matter is $00 per hour. The reasonable market value of an attorney s services is the measure of a reasonable hourly rate. Ketchum v. Moses (00) Cal.th,. The determination of market rate is generally based on the rates prevalent in the community where the services are rendered, i.e., where the court is located. Davis v. Mason County (th Cir. ) F.d,, overruled on other

5 Case :-cv-00-fmo-kes Document - Filed // Page of Page ID #: 0 0 grounds by Davis v. City and County of San Francisco (th Cir. ) F.d,.. In years 00 through 0, The National Law Journal conducted several law firm surveys with respect to attorney billing rates in major U.S. cities. According to the surveys, the market rate for an attorney of my experience and capability in major California markets, such as Los Angeles, is at least $00 per hour. For example, in 0 the associate billing rate high for the San Diego law firm of LUCE, FORWARD, HAMILTON & SCRIPPS was $0 per hour. The associate billing rate high for the Los Angeles office of SHEPPARD, MULLIN, RICHTER & HAMPTON was $0 per hour.. The law firm of LUCE FORWARD HAMILTON & SCRIPPS was retained as Defense counsel in an employment class action I filed in San Diego Superior Court during 00 and settled in 0, Santiago v. Premier Food Services, Inc., Case No. GIC0. My hourly rate at $00 is less than the high hourly rate charged by an associate at LUCE FORWARD HAMILTON & SCRIPPS in 0.. I have successfully litigated two previous class action matters in California during years 00 through 0 in which SHEPPARD, MULLIN, RICHTER & HAMPTON was retained as Defense counsel. My hourly rate at $00 is significantly less than the high hourly rate charged by an associate at SHEPPARD, MULLIN, RICHTER & HAMPTON in 0.. Recent class action fee award decisions further support my hourly rate of $00 per hour. See Dine v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., 0 WL, at * (C.D. Cal. Dec., 0) (approving, as reasonable, $00 hourly rate for senior associates); Vess v. Bank of Am., N.A., 0 U.S. Dist. LEXIS, at * (S.D. Cal. Oct., 0) (hourly rate of $ approved for attorney admitted in 00); see also Morey v. Louis Vuitton, N.Am., Inc. 0 U.S. Dist. LEXIS, at * - (S.D. Cal. Jan.. 0) (hourly rate of $00 approved for attorney admitted in

6 Case :-cv-00-fmo-kes Document - Filed // Page of Page ID #: ).. My total Lodestar fee amount on the present class action matter (reasonable accrued hours multiplied by reasonable hourly rate) is $,0 (. hours x $00 per hour). I expect my Lodestar to increase with class administration work, the preparation of the Motion for Final Approval, and possible attendance at the final approval hearing and subsequent execution of the settlement terms.. The time that I spent working on this case has not yet been compensated and took away from time that I could have spent on other, less risky legal matters. There was a significant risk of no payment for my legal services because of the contingent nature and complexity of this case. I took on this matter on a purely contingent fee basis and would not have received any compensation for my billable time had the litigation not ended successfully.. There was also significant risk of no payment for my legal services because of the nature and complexity of this case. Defense Counsel maintained legal and factual arguments throughout the litigation that could have resulted in no recovery for Plaintiff and the Class. I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed this rd day of November 0 at Ontario, California. David A. Huch