Avalos v. BBVA USA ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 GEORGE AVALOS, Case No. 1:20-cv-01581-DAD-SAB 12 Plaintiff, ORDER REQUIRING PLAINTIFF TO SUPPLEMENT MOTION FOR DEFAULT 13 v. JUDGMENT 14 BBVA USA, et al., FIVE DAY DEADLINE 15 Defendants. 16 17 George Avalos (“Plaintiff”) filed this action pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities 18 Act (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. § 12181, et seq. Currently before the Court is Plaintiff’s application for 19 default judgment filed February 18, 2021. Upon review of the motion for default judgment, the 20 Court shall require Plaintiff to file a supplement to address the following issues. 21 1. Reasonable Hourly Rate for Attorney Fees 22 Counsel seeks $375.00 per hour for work of an associate attorney in this action. 23 (Manning Decl. at ¶ 8.) However, no information has been provided regarding the experience of 24 the associate attorney that worked on this matter. 25 The lodestar amount is to be determined based upon the prevailing market rate in the 26 relevant community. Blum v. Stenson, 465 U.S. 886, 896 (1984). “To inform and assist the 27 court in the exercise of its discretion, the burden is on the fee applicant to produce satisfactory evidence—in addition to the attorney’s own affidavits—that the requested rates are in line with 1 | those prevailing in the community for similar services by lawyers of reasonably comparable 2 | skill, experience and reputation.” Blum, 465 U.S. at 895 n.11. 3 Plaintiff may supplement the motion to address this issue. Absent information to inform 4 | the Court of the requisite level of experience for the attorneys in this action, the Court shall use 5 | the rate for an attorney with | to 2 years of experience for work performed by associate attorneys 6 | in this action. 7 2. Costs 8 Plaintiff also seeks costs for service of process in this action, but has not included 9 | documentation to support the costs sought. Plaintiff shall supplement the motion to provide 10 | documentation for the costs sought in this action. 11 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiff shall file supplemental briefing 12 | for the application for default judgment within five (5) days of the date of entry of this order. 13 14 IT IS SO ORDERED. DAM Le 15 | Dated: _ February 23, 2021 ; 16 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28