The panel vacated the district court’s order granting Claudia Alvarado $312,429 in attorneys’ fees and costs on her individual, putative class, and Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) claims against Walmart for violations of California’s Labor Code, and remanded.

After an unsuccessful motion for class certification, Alvarado settled her individual claims under California Code of Civil Procedure section 998 for $22,000, and dismissed, without prejudice, her PAGA claims. The district court awarded Alvarado $297,799 in fees and $14,630 in costs. Walmart argued on appeal that the parties’ section 998 agreement, by its terms, allowed Alvarado to seek fees only for work performed exclusively on her individual claims.

The panel held that the parties’ section 998 agreement allowed Alvarado to seek fees under Hensley v. Eckhart, 461 U.S. 424 (1983), which allows a plaintiff who experiences limited success to recover fees for work performed on related items. However, the district court abused its discretion when it failed to provide a “concise but clear” explanation for its fee award. Accordingly, the panel vacated the fee award and remanded to the district court for further proceedings.

https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2025/09/30/23-3927.pdf