The court will grant the petition in a reduced amount. The constitutional claims were dismissed, but the statutory claims remained for trial. The hours spent on discovery were unreasonable. Over a year after the filing of the complaint, plaintiffs discovered that they had made an error as to the actual date of the incident and had deposed employees who were not working on the day of the incident. This error resulted in a summary judgment motion by defendant.
Defendant also claims an in-person deposition of one employee was unnecessary.
Plaintiffs achieved only limited success in the action. Courts have broadly defined a 'prevailing party' for purposes of triggering a fee shifting statute. When that occurs, the plaintiff is deemed to have prevailed despite the absence of a formal judgment in his favor. Plaintiffs are prevailing parties. The result of this computation is called the lodestar.