Perez v. Cate et al, No. 3:2005cv05241 - Document 525 (N.D. Cal. 2010)
Court Description: ORDER GRANTING 524 Stipulation to Stay Filing of Plaintiff's Motion to Compel Payment of REasonable Paralegal Fees for Work Performed During 2009 Until the Resolution of Perez v. Cate, Appeal No. 09-17185. Signed by Judge Jeffrey S. White on July 8, 2010. (jswlc3, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 7/8/2010)
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Perez v. Cate et al Doc. 525 Case3:05-cv-05241-JSW Document524 1 2 3 4 5 Filed07/08/10 Page1 of 8 PRISON LAW OFFICE DONALD SPECTER ALISON HARDY, State Bar No. 135966 1917 Fifth Street Berkeley, CA 94710 Telephone: (510) 280-2621 Fax: (510) 280-2704 ahardy@prisonlaw.com Attorneys for Plaintiffs 6 7 8 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION 11 12 13 C 05-05241 JSW CARLOS PEREZ, Plaintiff, STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] 14 15 v. 16 MATTHEW CATE, et al., 17 ORDER TO STAY PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO COMPEL PAYMENT OF REASONABLE PARALEGAL FEES FOR WORK PERFORMED DURING 2009 UNTIL THE RESOLUTION OF PEREZ V. CATE Defendants. APPEAL NO. 09-17185 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 STIPULATION AND ORDER TO STAY MOTION TO COMPEL Perez v. Cate, C-05-05241 JSW 1 Dockets.Justia.com Case3:05-cv-05241-JSW Document524 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Filed07/08/10 Page2 of 8 STIPULATION TO STAY PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO COMPEL PAYMENT OF REASONABLE PARALEGAL FEES FOR WORK PERFORMED DURING 2009 UNTIL THE RESOLUTION OF PEREZ V. CATE APPEAL NO. 09-17185 Plaintiffs and Defendants STIPULATE as follows: 1. Pursuant to the Perez Periodic Fees Order, “Plaintiffs may file a yearly motion to compel payment of disputed items, if necessary, not later than sixty days after the parties meet and confer with respect to the statement covering the fourth quarter of each year.” April 10, 2007 Stipulation and Order for Periodic Payment of Attorneys’ Fees and Costs (attached as Appendix A). The only remaining, disputed issues from 2009 are: (1) Defendants’ refusal to pay for any work performed by staff who are not “paralegals” as defined by California Business & Professions Code § 6450, and; (2) Defendants’ refusal to pay more than $135 per hour or $82.50 per hour for paralegal work on the case. 2. Plaintiffs’ counsel will file a motion to compel regarding the first issue identified above. 3. With respect to the second issue, Defendants’ refusal to pay more than $135 per hour or $82.50 per hour for paralegal work, the parties agree to stay Plaintiffs’ motion on this issue pending final resolution of Perez, et al. v. Cate, et al., Court of Appeals Docket No. 09-17185, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, including any petitions for panel or en banc rehearing, or final resolution in the United States Supreme Court (hereinafter “Perez appeal”). In so doing, Plaintiffs do not waive and will enforce their right to interest in accordance with the provisions set forth in the April 10, 2007 Periodic Fees order. Nothing in this Stipulation may be deemed a waiver or concession of any party’s legal arguments regarding this issue. 4. If the requested stay is granted, the parties will meet and confer regarding the paralegal rate issue within 10 days after the mandate issues in the Perez appeal. If the parties are still unable to resolve this issue, Plaintiffs will file a motion to compel within 60 days of the completion of the meet and confer. STIPULATION AND ORDER TO STAY MOTION TO COMPEL Perez v. Cate, C-05-05241 JSW 2 Case3:05-cv-05241-JSW Document524 1 AGREED TO BY THE PARTIES: 2 Date: July __, 2010 Filed07/08/10 Page3 of 8 /s/ Alison Hardy Attorney for Plaintiffs 3 . 4 5 Date: July __, 2010 /s/ . Phillip Lindsay Deputy Attorney General Attorney for Defendants 6 7 8 9 I, Alison Hardy, attest that Phillip Lindsay signed this document on _____, 2010. 10 11 12 13 14 IT IS SO ORDERED. 8 2010 Date: July _______________, ________________________ Honorable Jeffrey S. White United States District Court Judge 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 STIPULATION AND ORDER TO STAY MOTION TO COMPEL Perez v. Cate, C-05-05241 JSW 3 Case3:05-cv-05241-JSW Document524 Filed07/08/10 Page4 of 8 Appendix A Case Case3:05-cv-05241-JSW 3:05-cv-05241-JSW Document Document524 110 Filed Filed07/08/10 04/10/2007Page5 Page of 18 of 4 1 PRISON LAW OFFICE DONALD SPECTER 2 ALISON HARDY, State Bar No. 135966 General Delivery 3 San Quentin, CA 94964 Telephone: (415) 457-9144 4 Facsimile: (415) 457-9151 5 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 6 EDMUND G. BROWN JR. 7 Attorney General of the State of California DAVID CHANEY 8 Chief Assistant Attorney General FRANCES T. GRUNDER 9 Senior Assistant Attorney General ROCHELLE C. EAST 10 Supervising Deputy Attorney General CHARLES J. ANTONEN, State Bar No. 221207 11 Deputy Attorney General 455 Golden Gate Avenue, Suite 11000 12 San Francisco, CA 94102-7004 Telephone: (415) 703-5711 13 Facsimile: (415) 703-5843 14 Attorneys for Defendants 15 16 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 17 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 18 19 20 21 CARLOS PEREZ, et al., Plaintiffs, 22 23 v. JAMES TILTON, et al., No. C05-5241 JSW STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER RE PERIODIC PAYMENT OF ATTORNEYS’ FEES AND COSTS 24 25 Defendants. 26 27 28 Stipulation and Order re Periodic Payment of Attorneys’ Fees and Costs Perez v. Tilton, et al. 05-CV-05241 JSW Case Case3:05-cv-05241-JSW 3:05-cv-05241-JSW Document Document524 110 Filed Filed07/08/10 04/10/2007Page6 Page of 28 of 4 1 1. As permitted by Paragraph 42 of the Amended Stipulation and Order (Stipulation), 2 Plaintiff’s counsel shall submit quarterly statements to Defendants’ counsel for fees and costs 3 incurred in connection with Stipulation. In accordance with the Prison Litigation Reform Act 4 (PLRA), the statements will itemize the time spent, subject activity, applicable attorney and other 5 personnel billing rates, and costs with sufficient particularity to allow Defendants to identify 6 which efforts were or were not useful and necessary to ensure compliance with the Stipulation. 7 The billing rates for Plaintiffs’ counsel shall be in accordance with 42 U.S.C. §1997e(d) of the 8 PLRA. The billing rates for personnel other than Plaintiffs’ counsel shall be identified in the first 9 quarterly statement of each year. Unless Defendants dispute any of the fees or costs requested, the 10 billing statements submitted by Plaintiffs’ counsel shall not include declarations or other 11 supporting pleadings. Plaintiffs’ counsel shall serve the quarterly statements simultaneously on 12 the Attorney General’s Office and the Legal Affairs Division of the California Department of 13 Corrections and Rehabilitation. 14 2. Upon receipt of Plaintiffs’ quarterly statement, Defendants shall have thirty days to 15 request clarification and/or dispute item(s) on the statement. After notifying Plaintiffs’ counsel of 16 such a request and/or dispute, Plaintiffs’ and Defendants’ counsel shall meet and confer within 17 thirty days. Following the meet and confer process, Plaintiffs’ counsel shall prepare a stipulated 18 order for payment of fees not subject to Defendants’ objections. Plaintiffs’ counsel shall present 19 the signed stipulated payment order to the Court for entry. Defendants shall have thirty days from 20 the entry of the order by the Court to pay the undisputed fees without accruing interest. Interest 21 shall begin to accrue, at the rate provided by 28 U.S.C. § 1961, on any unpaid amounts on the 22 thirty-first day after the entry of the order by the Court. 23 3. If Defendants decline to agree to any stipulated payment order, or unreasonably fail 24 to timely process a fees request described in Paragraph 2, Plaintiffs’ counsel may file with the 25 Court a proposed order for collection of fees that are not disputed, together with a certification of 26 counsel under penalty of perjury setting forth the relevant facts and circumstances. Defendants’ 27 counsel may respond within five court days of filing the proposed order and certification. 28 Plaintiffs’ counsel may reply within two court days after Defendants’ response is filed. The Stipulation and Order re Periodic Payment of Attorneys’ Fees and Costs 2 Perez v. Tilton, et al. 05-CV-05241 JSW Case Case3:05-cv-05241-JSW 3:05-cv-05241-JSW Document Document524 110 Filed Filed07/08/10 04/10/2007Page7 Page of 38 of 4 1 parties request that the Court rule on Plaintiffs’ application without conducting a hearing, unless 2 the Court considers such a hearing necessary. The parties agree that this expedited process shall 3 not be used in instances where Defendants have a reasonable basis for disputing fees and expenses 4 Plaintiffs have claimed to be undisputed. If any party determines that systematic problems in the 5 meet and confer process have arisen, that party may move for further modification of this process 6 and this stipulation, by a properly noticed motion made pursuant to the Federal Rules of Civil 7 Procedure and the Local Rules of this Court. 8 4. Plaintiffs may file a yearly motion to compel payment of disputed items, if 9 necessary, not later than sixty days after the parties meet and confer with respect to the statement 10 covering the fourth quarter of each year. Such motion shall be briefed and heard pursuant to the 11 Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Local Rules of this Court. To the extent Plaintiffs 12 prevail on their motion to compel payment of disputed items, Defendants shall have thirty days 13 from the entry of the order by the Court to pay the amount of the order without accruing interest. 14 Interest shall begin to accrue, at the rate provided by 28 U.S.C. § 1961, on any unpaid amounts on 15 the thirty-first day after the entry of the order by the Court. If Defendants oppose any billing rates 16 proposed by Plaintiffs’ counsel, Plaintiffs shall bring a motion to compel on this issue following 17 the first quarterly statement of each year. 18 19 5. In the event that an unusually large number of hours or a significant issue is in dispute, Plaintiffs may bring a quarterly motion to compel on those issues alone. Any such 20 quarterly motion to compel will be filed no later than thirty days after the parties have met and 21 //// 22 //// 23 //// 24 //// 25 //// 26 //// 27 //// 28 Stipulation and Order re Periodic Payment of Attorneys’ Fees and Costs 3 Perez v. Tilton, et al. 05-CV-05241 JSW Case Case3:05-cv-05241-JSW 3:05-cv-05241-JSW Document Document524 110 Filed Filed07/08/10 04/10/2007Page8 Page of 48 of 4 1 conferred on the quarterly statement at issue. Such motions will be briefed and heard pursuant to 2 the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Local Rules of this Court. 3 4 IT IS SO STIPULATED. 5 6 Date: April 10, 2007 /s/ Alison Hardy Alison Hardy Prison Law Office Attorney for Plaintiffs Date: April 10, 2007 /s/ Charles J. Antonen Charles J. Antonen Deputy Attorney General Attorney for Defendants 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 I, Alison hardy, attest that Charles Antonen signed this document on April 10, 2007. 15 IT IS SO ORDERED. 16 17 April 10, 2007 18 Dated: __________________ _________________________ JEFFREY S. WHITE United States District Court 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Stipulation and Order re Periodic Payment of Attorneys’ Fees and Costs 4 Perez v. Tilton, et al. 05-CV-05241 JSW
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