CJC Case Changes California Law

Let’s Celebrate!!

There is a lot of fabulous news pouring out of our own Hastings Civil Justice Clinic these days.  First, the CJC obtained a monster-sized attorneys’ fee award.  This was followed by the selection of Professor Donna Ryu as a 2008 California Lawyer of the Year (“CLAY”) award winner.

After securing a unanimous victory last year in the landmark Murphy v. Kenneth Cole Productions case, the CJC turned to the hard work of securing its attorneys’ fees.   The result: the judge awarded fees to the CJC in excess of a whopping $1 million dollars.  This amount reflects a 1.8 multiplier on the lodestar in light of the exceptional results achieved by the CJC in this case.   Judge Bouliane also ordered the defendant to pay the fees of the CJC’s fee counsel, Linda Dardarian and the firm of Goldstein, Demchak, Borgen, Baller and Dardarian. 

The Murphy case originated in the CJC’s Individual Representation course.  Supervised by Professors Donna Ryu and Miye Goishi, then-students Sarah Beard (’05), Suzanne Delgin (’05) and Monica Salazar (’04) successfully conducted a six-day trial in San Francisco Superior Court in December 2003 on behalf of their client, John Paul Murphy.  Professors Ryu, Goishi and Nancy Stuart represented Mr. Murphy through successive appeals.  In April 2007, the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of Mr. Murphy, ultimately resolving two highly contested issues in favor of employees -- that actions for meal and rest periods claims must be treated as wage claims, and that a trial court can consider wage claims that an employee did not raise at the labor commissioner proceeding.

CJC’s fee award is likely among the largest ever awarded to a law school clinical program.  The fees will be used by the CJC to keep doing what it has done so well for the past fifteen years – provide a unique hands-on educational experience to Hastings students, while also serving the needs of under-represented clients.

And if that wasn’t enough good news, Professor Ryu has been selected as one of 34 California lawyers who will receive the prestigious annual CLAY award.  The CLAY award is given annually to “lawyers from around the state whose achievements have had a significant impact in [award year] 2007, or whose work is expected to have such an effect in the coming years.”  The awards were presented by Chief Justice Ronald George on March 4, and Professor Ryu was featured, along with the other CLAY awardees, in the March 2008 edition of California Lawyer magazine.

 Congratulations, Hastings Civil Justice Clinic!