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Lindberg v. California Dep't of Education10/31/2005
lier of 2.0, based in part on the delay in payment and contingent nature of the recovery.
Defendants have appealed from the award of attorney fees, contending that the court abused its discretion. Because the compensatory damages award must be vacated and retried, the hours spent by the attorneys will have increased and other factors affecting an appropriate fee award will have changed. (See Weeks v. Baker & McKenzie (1998) 63 Cal.App.4th 1128, 1171-1172 [enumerating lodestar factors].) We thus deem it appropriate to vacate the attorney fee award, so that the trial court may reconsider Lindberg's application after a new judgment is entered. (See Metropolitan Water Dist. v. Imperial Irrigation Dist. (2000) 80 Cal.App.4th 1403, 1436-1437 and cases cited therein.)
DISPOSITION
The order denying defendants' motion for JNOV is affirmed. The judgment is affirmed insofar as it establishes liability on the part of CDE for violation of Labor Code section 1102.5 and on the part of CDE, Eastin and Polster for violation of Government Code section 8547.8. The judgment is reversed as to compensatory damages only and the cause remanded for retrial solely on the proper amount of compensatory damages to be awarded as to defendants. The postjudgment award of attorney fees is vacated and remanded for reconsideration by the trial court after entry of a new judgment awarding compensatory damages.
Each party shall bear its own costs on appeal. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 27(a).)
We concur: BLEASE, Acting P. J., ROBIE, J.
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