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2 3 4 5 6 7 United States District Court 8 Central District of California 9 10 11 LOVADA WORKMAN, Case No. 2:17-cv-04515-ODW (SSx) 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR ATTORNEY FEES 14 DEARBORN NATIONAL LIFE AND NON-TAXABLE COSTS 15 INSURANCE COMPANY, WITHOUT PREJUDICE [59] 16 Defendants. 17 18 Following the Court’s entry of judgment (ECF No. 58), Defendant moved to 19 recover their attorneys’ fees. (See Def.’s Mot. for Att’y Fees, ECF No. 59.) 20 Subsequently, Plaintiff filed a notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit (ECF No. 61).1 21 When an appeal on the merits is filed, a district court has discretion to rule on a 22 claim for fees, defer its ruling on the motion, or deny the motion without prejudice 23 and direct a new filing period for filing after the claim has been resolved. Fed. R. Civ.

(d)(2), Advisory Committee Notes (1993 Amendment); Dufour v. Allen, 25 No. 2:14-cv-5616 CA (SSx),

, at *2 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 26, 2015) 26 (“[A] district court has the discretion to defer consideration of an attorneys’ fee 27

28 1 After carefully considering the papers filed in connection with the Motion, the Court deemed the matter appropriate for decision without oral argument. Fed. R. Civ. P. 78; C.D. Cal. L.R. 7-15. 1 | motion until resolution of the underlying case’s appeal.”). “Particularly if the claim 2 || for fees involves substantial issues or is likely to be affected by the appellate decision, 3 || the district court may prefer to defer consideration of the claim for fees until after the 4] appeal is resolved.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 58, Advisory Committee Notes (1993 5 || Amendment). “District courts have exercised their discretion to defer ruling on a 6 || motion for attorneys’ fees, or to deny the motion without prejudice to being renewed following disposition of the appeal.” Pacing Techs., LLC vy. Garmin Int’l, Inc., 8 | No. 12-cv-1067-BEN (JLB),

, at *2 (S.D. Cal. June 24, 2014). 9 Given the nature of Plaintiff's appeal, and upon consideration of Defendant’s 10 || Motions for Attorney Fees (ECF No. 59), the Court DENIES WITHOUT 11 || PREJUDICE Defendant’s Motion. If appropriate, Parties may renew their motions 12 | within 30 days of the entry of the Ninth Circuit’s Mandate on the pending 13 || appeal. 14 15 | IT IS SO ORDERED. 16 □ 7 March 3, 2020 VE □□

19 OTIS D. GHT, II UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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