UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION

Transcription

1 Case :-cv-0-vc Document - Filed // Page of Alejandro P. Gutierrez, SBN 0 HATHAWAY, PERRETT, WEBSTER, POWERS, CHRISMAN & GUTIERREZ A Professional Corporation 00 Hathaway Building 0 Telegraph Road Post Office Box Ventura, CA 00- Telephone: (0) - Facsimile: (0) - agutierez@hathawaylawfirm.com Daniel J. Palay, SBN Michael A. Strauss, SBN Brian D. Hefelfinger, SBN 0 STRAUSS & PALAY, PAC N. Fir Street, Suite F Ventura, CA 00 Telephone:(0) -00 Facsimile: (0) -0 mike@strausslawyers.com Attorneys for Plaintiffs and the Certified Class UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION JOHN MARTINO, an individual; for himself and those similarly situated; ADONIS AMOROSO, for himself and those similarly situated; and ROES through 0,000 and the proposed class, vs. Plaintiff, ECOLAB INC., a Delaware Corporation; and DOES through 00, inclusive, CASE NO: :-cv-0-vc CLASS ACTION DECLARATION OF DANIEL J. PALAY IN SUPPORT OF UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR FINAL APPROVAL OF ATTORNEY'S FEES AND COSTS Date: January, 0 Time 0:00 a.m. Crtrm:, th Floor Hon. Vince Chhabria Defendants. AND COSTS :-cv-0-vc

2 Case :-cv-0-vc Document - Filed // Page of 0 0 I, Daniel J. Palay, declare as follows: DECLARATION OF DANIEL J. PALAY. I am an attorney at law qualified to practice before the state and federal courts in California. I am one of the attorneys of record for Plaintiffs and Class Counsel for the certified class in the aboveentitled action. I have personal knowledge of the facts stated in this declaration and if called upon, I would and could testify competently thereto. I make this declaration in support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Final Approval of Attorney's Fees and in support of Plaintiffs' Supplemental Memorandum relating to Class Counsel's lodestar.. I have reviewed the concurrently filed Supplemental Declaration of Alejandro P. Gutierrez in support of the Supplemental Memorandum relating to Class Counsel's lodestar information as well as Mr. Gutierrez's Declaration in support of the Motion for Final Approval of Attorney's Fees and Costs. All of Mr. Gutierrez's explanations as to the effort expended by our two firms are true and correct. To avoid redundancy, I incorporate herein by this reference the factual narrative of the litigation events in this matter. Mr. Gutierrez and I have co-counseled this case for over two years. The stakes were high and Ecolab's defense of this case was vigorous, requiring substantial effort by myself and my colleagues. This was the case from day one and continued through the date we came to a settlement at the mediation session between the parties.. I and other Class Counsel made every effort to litigate this case efficiently by apportioning tasks to reduce duplication of effort, while communicating regularly about strategy and tactics. I have worked closely on this case for over two years, beginning in early 0. I was involved in the investigation of Plaintiffs' claims, drafting pleadings, drafting written discovery, drafting portions Plaintiffs' class certification motion, drafting portions of the opposition to Ecolab's motion for certification of appeal, drafting portions of the motion for preliminary approval of class action settlement and motion for final approval, traveling throughout California to take or defend AND COSTS - :-cv-0-vc

3 Case :-cv-0-vc Document - Filed // Page of 0 0 depositions, case management, and communicating with class members and named Plaintiffs. As a lead attorney, I was involved in settlement discussions and strategy and attended the mediation in this matter. The Settlement Agreement was the result of hard fought and lengthy negotiations between Plaintiffs and Ecolab.. I founded Palay Law Firm after the "retirement" of my long-time partner, Kevin McTague in about 00. I have consistently represented employees in employment-related disputes for more than twenty (0) years. I received the award for Trial Lawyer of the Year for 00 by the Trial Lawyers section of the Ventura County Bar Association. I have litigated hundreds of cases throughout my career, including what I believe to be one of the largest per-person recoveries in the history of California class action litigation. I earned my Juris Doctor degree in late. I have been an active member of the State Bar of California since June. I received my undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.. I have extensive experience in civil litigation and an over 0-year history of aggressive, successful prosecution of labor law cases, predominantly wage and hour class actions. For instance, in a wage and hour class action litigated to judgment, I succeeded in procuring an award of $. million for the class. This recovery represented close to 00% of the compensatory damages suffered by class members, an exceptional and rare result. In fact, my efforts resulted in one of the largest per-person wage and hour awards in California history. Examples in which the I have represented Class members include: Alameda County Superior Court cases May v. Quality Behavioral Outcomes LLC, RG0 and Britto v. Zep, Inc., VG-0; Kern County Superior Court cases Calvillo v. Diamond Well Service, S-00-CV ; Candete v. Cummings Transportation Service, S-00-CV 0; Carter v. B&L Tongs, LLC, -00-CV- SPC; and Gutierrez v. Halliburton Energy Services, Inc., S-00-CV- SPC; Los Angeles County Superior Court cases Cooper v. Ecolab Inc., BC and Henson v. Searles Valley Minerals Operations, Inc., BC00; San Francisco AND COSTS - :-cv-0-vc

4 Case :-cv-0-vc Document - Filed // Page of 0 0 Superior Court case Icard v. Ecolab, Inc., CGC-0-; Solano County Superior Court case Kenton v. PGD, FCS 0; Ventura County Superior Court cases Bautista v. Alliance Environmental Group, CU-OE-VTA; Barragan v. Republic Drilling Co., CU-OE- VTA; Cortez v. Pool California Energy Services, Inc., CIV ; Gonzalez v. Key Energy Services, Inc., CIV ; Hemosillo v. Kenai Drilling, Ltd., CIV 0; Hiriarte v. Weatherford U.S., L.P., CIV ; Howe v. BTC Laboratories, Inc., CIV ; Roe v. Ecolab, Inc., CIV ; and Vasquez v. DCH (Oxnard) Inc., CIV 0; United States District Court for Central District of California case Ladore v. Ecolab, Inc., CV- GAF; Ross v. Ecolab, USDC Case No. -0- PJH.. Class Counsel seek their fees on a percentage-of-the-benefit basis, rather than the lodestar basis. However, the Court has requested information relating to Class Counsel's lodestar. To perform a lodestar cross-check, the hourly rate I request the Court to use for cross-check purposes is $00 per hour. My firm's total billing hours as reduced in the exercise of billing discretion is. and our total lodestar is $,0. See Exhibit A to Strauss Decl. filed concurrently herewith.. In 0, the Northern District of California found the reasonable hourly rate for my services (determined in a contested motion for attorney's fees) to be $0. See Aguilar v. Zep Inc., No. -CV-00-WHO, 0 WL 0, at * (N.D. Cal. Aug., 0) ("Taking into account Mr. Palay's years in practice, his involvement in this case, and his background, reputation, and skill, a reasonable hourly rate for Mr. Palay is $0."). My rate has gone up in the last two years, and the court in Ross v. Ecolab granted approval of Class Counsel attorney's fees based on my now-current hourly rate of $00. (:-cv-00-pjh, Dock. No. 0).. I have reviewed my billings for the work I performed or supervised in this case. Some of my time was not recorded in the billings, or was reduced in the exercise of billing discretion. As such, Exhibit A to the concurrently filed Declaration of Michael A. Strauss in Support of Motion for AND COSTS - :-cv-0-vc

5 Case :-cv-0-vc Document - Filed // Page of 0 Attorney's Fees summarizes a minimum of the hours that I worked on this case. For lodestar cross-check purposes, and as detailed in Exhibit A, I estimate that I have worked at least. hours on this case over the past two years. 0. All of the time I put in the case was reasonable and necessary given the highly contested nature of the case. Nearly every aspect of procedure and substantive law was contested by Ecolab in the case. Nonetheless, I made every effort to reduce attorney's fees by assigning work to the lowest billing timekeepers where feasible without compromising the work product. For example, work was assigned to associates when available and appropriate. I declare under penalty of perjury and under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed thisth day of December, 0, at Ventura, California /s/ Daniel J. Palay 0 AND COSTS - :-cv-0-vc