Opinion ID: 1931095
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Lodestar Examined

Text: We begin by undertaking a brief overview of the much-discussed lodestar approach that, under appropriate circumstances, may be used to calculate attorney's fees, when the award of such fees is permitted generally by statute. In this Court's opinion in Friolo v. Frankel, 373 Md. 501, 819 A.2d 354 (2003), filed approximately three months prior to the time respondent sought review in the Court of Special Appeals, Judge Wilner examined at great length the evolution of the lodestar approach and noted the origin of this term. He explained: The term `lodestar' has an Anglo-Saxon origin  `lad,' a way or path, and `sterre,' a star. It thus was a guiding star. See WEBSTER'S UNABRIDGED DICTIONARY at 1062. It later came to denote a `guiding ideal; a model for imitation.' Id. At some point, the term began to be applied to the method noted for determining reasonable attorneys' fees. Friolo, 373 Md. at 504 n. 1, 819 A.2d at 356 n. 1. The lodestar approach, as applied in Maryland in Friolo, consists of the somewhat elementary formula articulated in Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983): The most useful starting point for determining the amount of a reasonable fee is the number of hours reasonably expended on the litigation multiplied by a reasonable hourly rate. This calculation provides an objective basis on which to make an initial estimate of the value of a lawyer's services. The party seeking an award of fees should submit evidence supporting the hours worked and rates claimed. Where the documentation of hours is inadequate, the district [trial] court may reduce the award accordingly. Id. at 433, 103 S.Ct. at 1939 (alteration added) (emphasis added). Respondent compares her status as a successful civil rights complainant to the situation present in Johnson v. Georgia Highway Express, Inc., 488 F.2d 714 (5th Cir.1974), vacated in part, Blanchard v. Bergeron, 489 U.S. 87, 109 S.Ct. 939, 103 L.Ed.2d 67 (1989) ( Blanchard, 489 U.S. at 93, 109 S.Ct. at 944, noted that a contingent-fee contract does not impose an automatic ceiling on an award of attorney's fees, and to hold otherwise would be inconsistent with the statute [Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Awards Act, 42 U.S.C.A. § 1988] and its policy and purpose (alteration added)). In Johnson, a case arising from an interlocutory appeal by plaintiffs who had brought a Title VII action alleging racial discrimination in their employment, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit promulgated a number of factors, later adopted by the Supreme Court in Hensley, to apply in exercising the court's discretion when awarding attorney's fees against a party in a civil rights action: (1) The time and labor required. ... (2) The novelty and difficulty of the questions. ... (3) The skill requisite to perform the legal service properly. ... (4) The preclusion of other employment by the attorney due to acceptance of the case. ... (5) The customary fee. ... (6) Whether the fee is fixed or contingent. ... (7) Time limitations imposed by the client or the circumstances. ... (8) The amount involved and the results obtained [This is a cost-benefit standard.].... (9) The experience, reputation, and ability of the attorneys. ... (10) The `undesirability' of the case. ... (11) The nature and length of the professional relationship with the client. ... (12) Awards in similar cases.  Johnson, 488 F.2d at 717-19 (alteration added). Clearly, the factors in Johnson are, in large part, comparable to the factors of Montgomery County Code § 27-7(k)(1). Johnson also stated that [t]he reasonableness of the award is to be judged by the abuse of discretion standard of review. Id. at 717. This Court in Admiral Mortgage, Inc. v. Cooper, 357 Md. 533, 745 A.2d 1026 (2000) (stating in dicta that an employee from whom the employer had withheld commissions was entitled to collect attorney's fees, and since there were no criteria contained in the fee-shifting statute for the court to determine the amount of fees, the lodestar method served as the proper basis for the judge's calculation of the attorney's fees award) noted the logic of having the judge, rather than a jury, determine the attorney's fees and provided some other criteria for analysis under the lodestar approach, stating: In the Federal system, attorneys' fees awarded under fee-shifting statutes are calculated in accordance with the `lodestar' approach  the product of reasonable hours times a reasonable rate. Burlington v. Dague, 505 U.S. 557, 112 S.Ct. 2638, 120 L.Ed.2d 449 (1992). The determination of those two items, however, involves a number of factors that are both subjective and judgmental. In Maryland, they would include consideration of the factors set forth in Rule 1.5 of the Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct, among which are `the novelty and difficulty of the questions involved' and `the skill requisite to perform the legal service properly.' Those factors are more judgmental than fact-based and are more apt to be within the expertise of a judge rather than of lay jurors. Admiral Mortgage, Inc., 357 Md. at 552-53, 745 A.2d at 1036 (footnote omitted).