We present Keck/LRIS spectra of a candidate damped Ly \alpha ( DLA ) galaxy toward the QSO 3C196 ( z _ { em } = 0.871 ) .
The DLA absorption system has a redshift of z _ { DLA } = 0.437 , and a galaxy at 1.5 ^ { \prime \prime } from the QSO has been identified in high resolution imaging with WFPC2/HST .
We have detected emission lines of [ O II ] \lambda 3727 , H \beta , [ O III ] \lambda 5007 , H \alpha and [ N II ] \lambda 6584 at the absorption redshift .
Based on the emission lines , we have found the redshift of the galaxy to be z _ { em } = 0.4376 \pm 0.0006 .
The emission lines also enabled us to calculate the extinction-corrected luminosities and metallicity indicators using established indices based on line strengths of different emission lines .
These indicators suggest that the ISM of the DLA galaxy has a high metallicity comparable to or perhaps twice as much as solar ( e.g .
12+ \log ( O/H ) = 8.98 \pm 0.07 ) .
Based on the strengths of H \alpha and on the reddening derived from the relative strengths of H \alpha and H \beta , the star formation rate is 4.7 \pm 0.8 M _ { \sun } yr ^ { -1 } .
This places the galaxy in the range of gas-rich spiral galaxies .