Gardner v. Schwarzenegger
Defendants Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr., and Secretary of State Debra Bowen (collectively defendants) appeal from an order awarding plaintiffs Cliff Gardner, Drug Policy Alliance, and California Society of Addiction Medicine (collectively plaintiffs) $423,975 in attorney fees. We recently affirmed the judgment for plaintiffs in this action, which enjoined enforcement of legislationSenate Bill No. 1137 (2005-2006 Reg. Sess.) sections 1 through 12 (Stats. 2006, ch. 63, 1−12; hereafter Senate Bill 1137)that had sought to amend the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of 2000 (hereafter Proposition 36). (Gardner v. Schwarzenegger (2009) 178 Cal.App.4th 1366, 1369 (Gardner I).) Defendants do not dispute plaintiffs entitlement to attorney fees under the private attorney general statute (Code Civ. Proc., 1021.5),[1] but contest the amount of the award against them. Defendants argue that the court erred in: accepting the hourly rates claimed by plaintiffs attorneys, awarding a multiplier, and failing to apportion some responsibility for the award to other defendants in the case. court find no abuse of discretion as to any of these determinations, and affirm the order.
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