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Allocation, Section 1717: Where Trial Court Ordered Apportionment, Which Prevailing Parties Could Not Accomplish, 27% Of Requested Fee Award Was The Result
Prevailing Parties’ Counsel Passed, But The Lower Court Gave An Opportunity To Allocate—They Could Not, But It Is The Fee Claimants’ Burden Of Proof. The…
Allocation, Fee Clause Interpretation: Seller Prevailing In Buyer Case To Pay Buyer’s Broker’s Commission Was Denied Attorney’s Fees Based On A Narrow Fees Clause
Prevailing Seller Failed To Apportion Fees On Defending The Compensable Contract Claim, With No Recovery Allowable Under The Non-compensable Tort Claims. This case reinforces the…
Ethics: New York State Bar’s Ethics Committee Issues An Opinion Indicating That Attorneys Can Charge For Answering Billing Questions If Advance Notice Is Given To A Client
Ethics Opinion 1299 Is What Was Issued; Time On Genuine Billing Disputes Should Not Be Billed. New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Professional Ethics…
Class Actions: Class Counsel Awarded About $146.8 Million In Attorney’s Fees In Privacy Action Where A Jury Awarded $425 Million To The Certified Class
Lodestar Was Almost 50,000 Hours At A Blended Hourly Rate Of $1,143, Enhanced By A 2.59 Positive Multiplier. Rodriguez v. Google, LLC, No. 20-cv-04688-RS (N.D….
Costs, Deadlines, SLAPP: Where SLAPP Motions And Dismissals On Them Did Not Resolve The Case Against All Defendants, The Prevailing SLAPP Defendants Did Not Face The 15-Day Memorandum Of Costs Deadline Generally Applying When The Case Is Fully Resolved
The Costs Memo Filing 10 Days Past The 15-Day Deadline Was No Problem, Given That The 15-Day Deadline Did Not Start To Accrue. What caught…
Private Attorney General: City Of Los Angeles v. International Brotherhood Of Electrical Workers Opinion Is Now Published
Vindication Of Negotiating Rights For Los Angeles Employees Was An Important Public Benefit On August 6, 2026, we posted on City of Los Angeles v. International…
Celebrities, Special Fee Shifting Statutes: Based On Dismissal Of A Defamation Counter-Claim, Blake Lively Obtains $407,451 In Attorney’s Fees And Costs In Contentious Litigation Against Co-Star Justin Baldoni Based On Civil Code Section 47.1(b)
However, She Had Sought Over $8 Million In Fees And Costs, With District Judge Only Awarding For Fees/Costs For Defamation Counter-Claim Work And Making Other…
POOF!: Where A Trial Court Found A Fraudulent Transfer Of Title, But Erroneously Entered Judgment Against Plaintiff Based On A Statute Of Limitations Defense, Judgment Was Reversed And Entered In Plaintiff’s Favor On Appeal
That Also Means The Prevailing Party Fee Award To The Defense Fell As A Matter Of Law. Salem v. Aljojo, Case No. B346381 (2d Dist.,…
Section 1717: Contractual Attorney’s Fees To Defendant Where Plaintiff Wanted To Dismiss Entire Action After An Adverse Demurrer Ruling On One Claim Was Reversed On Appeal
Lower Court Erred By Not Entering The Entire Dismissal, Which Triggered The Santisas Bar For An Award Of Civil Code Section 1717 Fees. In Shayan v….
Appeal Sanctions: In Pro Per Appellants Will Have To Pay The Reasonable Appellate Fees Of Their Opponent Based On AI Hallucination Citations
Superior Court Judge Will Determine The Fees To Be Awarded. Pro per appellants are not immune from appellate sanctions for having used AI hallucinations citations…
Fee Clause Interpretation, Probate, Settlement: Attorney’s Fees Were Assessed Against Trustee Based On Handwritten Settlement Agreement With A Contractual Fees Clause
Both Sides Were Represented By Counsel In The Negotiating and Signing of The Agreement. The Fifth District in Kirkland v. Beeck, Case No. F090251 (5th Dist….
Sanctions: First District Parts Company From The Second District On Whether A Safe Harbor Sanctions Motion Has To Have A Hearing Date
This May Go Up for California Supreme Court Review In Ari Law P.C. v. Autonation.com, Inc., Case No. A173620 (1st Dist., Div. 4 Aug. 26, 2026)…
Class Actions: 58.8% Fee Award To Class Counsel Out of Class Settlement Is Approved By New York Federal Court
Attorney Author’s Commentary Posits Whether It Is A Poster Child for Class Action Abuse Or Just Unusual Circumstances. As attorney Eric Troutman discussed in an…
Costs, Multipliers, Reasonableness of Fees, Requests For Admission: $200,000 Fee Award To A Prevailing Party Elderly Patient In A Senior Facility, Over A 60% Reduction From The Requested Lodestar Fees, Was Affirmed On Appeal Based On Negative Multiplier Factors And The Abuse Of Discretion Review Standard
Lower Court Also Did Not Err In Taxing Costs For Unreasonable, Unused Photocopies of Exhibits and Enlargements. In Aud v. RRT Enterprises, LP, Case No….
Family Law: Ex-Wife Properly Denied Family Code Section 2030 Fees Because She Had Some Assets, She Chose Not To Work, And Her Counsel Drove Up The Costs In The Dissolution Action
$60,000 Was The Denied Request. In Marriage of Patel, Case No. B351488 (2d Dist., Div. 6 Aug. 24, 2026) (unpublished), the family law judge denied…
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Allocation, Section 1717: Where Trial Court Ordered Apportionment, Which Prevailing Parties Could Not Accomplish, 27% Of Requested Fee Award Was The Result
Prevailing Parties’ Counsel Passed, But The Lower Court Gave An Opportunity To Allocate—They Could Not, But It Is The Fee Claimants’ Burden Of Proof. The result in Choy v. Ribeiro Development, Inc., Case No. C100831 (3d Dist. Sept. 1, 2026) (unpublished) may at first blush seem harsh, but it is a fee claimant’s burden to justify…
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Allocation, Fee Clause Interpretation: Seller Prevailing In Buyer Case To Pay Buyer’s Broker’s Commission Was Denied Attorney’s Fees Based On A Narrow Fees Clause
Prevailing Seller Failed To Apportion Fees On Defending The Compensable Contract Claim, With No Recovery Allowable Under The Non-compensable Tort Claims. This case reinforces the propriety of apportioning fees on compensable contract claims for a prevailing party; after all, this is what the prevailing party can get—not non-compensable work on tort claims where a narrow…
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Ethics: New York State Bar’s Ethics Committee Issues An Opinion Indicating That Attorneys Can Charge For Answering Billing Questions If Advance Notice Is Given To A Client
Ethics Opinion 1299 Is What Was Issued; Time On Genuine Billing Disputes Should Not Be Billed. New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Professional Ethics has issued Opinion 1299 on August 31, 2026. It states that, with advance notice to the client, an attorney may bill a client for discussing continued billing questions, because it…
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Class Actions: Class Counsel Awarded About $146.8 Million In Attorney’s Fees In Privacy Action Where A Jury Awarded $425 Million To The Certified Class
Lodestar Was Almost 50,000 Hours At A Blended Hourly Rate Of $1,143, Enhanced By A 2.59 Positive Multiplier. Rodriguez v. Google, LLC, No. 20-cv-04688-RS (N.D. Cal.) was a class action brought on behalf of 98 million people alleging that Google unlawfully collected user data from non-Google apps even when users disabled the settings, based on…
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Costs, Deadlines, SLAPP: Where SLAPP Motions And Dismissals On Them Did Not Resolve The Case Against All Defendants, The Prevailing SLAPP Defendants Did Not Face The 15-Day Memorandum Of Costs Deadline Generally Applying When The Case Is Fully Resolved
The Costs Memo Filing 10 Days Past The 15-Day Deadline Was No Problem, Given That The 15-Day Deadline Did Not Start To Accrue. What caught our eye in Amirtalesh v. Beverly Hills Properties, LLC, Case Nos. B339300 et al. (2d Dist., Div. 2 Aug. 28, 2026) (unpublished) was the discussion on whether prevailing SLAPP defendants…
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Private Attorney General: City Of Los Angeles v. International Brotherhood Of Electrical Workers Opinion Is Now Published
Vindication Of Negotiating Rights For Los Angeles Employees Was An Important Public Benefit On August 6, 2026, we posted on City of Los Angeles v. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Case No. B336981 (2d Dist., Div. 7 filed July 30, 2026). On the fee issue, it held that Coalition vindicated bargaining rights for L.A. employees, a significant…