Caitlin Cromar, Et Ano, V. Tag Realty, Llc. (2026)

Citation: Caitlin Cromar, Et Ano, V. Tag Realty, Llc. (2026)
Parent Document: Caitlin Cromar, Et Ano, V. Tag Realty, Llc. (2026)
Jurisdiction: Washington (state)
Effective Date: 2026-01-12
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10773374/caitlin-cromar-et-ano-v-tag-re... ↗

Full Text

1,742 chars

The Court finds that the number of hours incurred by Plaintiffs’
       counsel were not reasonable. This case was filed as a putative class
       action. That threat drastically limited the possibility of reaching a
       negotiated resolution. Once the class claims were abandoned, … [TAG
       Realty] took little time conceding to entry of judgment. But by then the
       plaintiffs had incurred significant fees, again limiting the possibility of
       reaching a negotiated resolution. Had the lawsuit instead been brought
       simply to recover the plaintiffs’ damages (the “successful result,” …
       [Mahler v. Szucs, 135 Wn.2d 398, 434, 957 P.2d 632 (1998)]), a
       negotiated resolution may have been reached early, and, if not, the
       plaintiffs’ lawyers could have immediately sought summary judgment on
       what was a very straightforward claim. Instead, the plaintiffs approached
       the case as a class action, including propounding and reviewing discovery
       relevant to proving class claims. … That work—prosecuting the matter as
       a putative class action—was devoted to “unsuccessful claims, duplicated
       or wasted effort, or otherwise unproductive time” and must be excluded.
       … [See Chuong Van Pham v. City of Seattle, 159 Wn.2d 527, 538, 151
       P.3d 976 (2007)]. Even work devoted to proving the plaintiffs’ individual
       claim was “unproductive” in that, had the class claims not been pursued,
       the plaintiffs could have reached a resolution (whether negotiated or by
       court order) with far fewer hours expended. The Court finds that, at most,
       sixteen (16) hours were reasonably expended (including fees on fees) on
       prosecution of this matter.

Other Sections in This Document (502)

Full Text