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Private Attorney General: Reduced Fee Award To Prevailing Party, Based On Limited Success And Overlitigation, Was Affirmed On Appeal
Prevailing Party Only Obtained Petition Relief Based On General Prayer Clause, With Lower Court Granting A Remedy To The Prevailing Party–$53,679.63 Out Of $322,798.50 Fee…
Choice Of Law, Insurance: Appellate Court Sustains A Lower Court’s Ruling That An Insured’s Invocation Of Delaware’s Bad Faith Litigation Expense Exception For Fee Recovery Was Procedural So That California Did Not Have To Apply It
Case Has An Interesting Discussion, Under A Choice Of Law Analysis, Whether A Fee Claim Is Procedural Or Substantive, And It Was Procedural In The…
Civil Rights, Employment: San Diego-Tomas Opinion Is Certified For Publication
Lower Court Must Make Findings That FEHA Case Was Frivolous/Groundless Before Awarding Costs To A Prevailing Defendant, With Cost Memorandum Not Sufficing. On October 5,…
Hourly Rates: 2026 8am Survey Shows That Hourly Rates Are Still Prevalent For U.S. Small And Midsize Firms
Hourly Rate Arrangements Eclipse Flat Rate Agreements By A Substantial Margin. 8 am, on October 22, 2026, issued the 8am SMB Law Billing and Payments…
Block Billing, Costs, Hourly Rates, Laffey Matrix, Multipliers, Special Fee Shifting Statutes, Substantiation Of Reasonableness Of Fees: This Next Case Is A Poster Child For How NOT To Support Or Defend Fee And Costs Motions
In The End, The Defense May Have Gotten The Better Side Of It, But The Appellate Court Rejected That Nothing Was Owed To Plaintiff—The Reduced…
Costs: Where Partial Success Was Obtained On Appeal, Both Parties Ordered To Split Costs On Appeal
As For Trial Level Costs, Matter Had To Be Remanded To See If A Party Prevailed As Far As A Net Monetary Recovery. Davis v….
Family Law: Arora v. Arora Now Published
Ruling In Contempt Proceedings Did Not Inhibit Family Code Section 271 Sanctions. On October 2, 2026, we posted on Arora v. Arora, Case No. D086321…
Appeal Sanctions: What Is The Cost Where An Ex-Husband Unsuccessfully Challenged A Family Law Code Section 2030 Fee Shifting Order Where Attacks On The Trial Judge Were Over The Top?
Answer: $7,500 Payable To The Other Side, According To The 4/1 DCA. We do monitor appeal sanctions. Marriage of Ghazi and Richard, Case No. D086782 (4th…
Fee Clause Interpretation: Putative Intervenor Denied Leave To Intervene In A Partition Action Was Not Subject To Attorney’s Fees Under Language In A Settlement Agreement Fees Clause
Putative Intervenor Never Became A Party, And No Assignment Of Rights To Him Was Shown. In Weinsaft v. AMI and Deckel, Case No. B343222 (2d…
Homeowner Associations: Decades Long Dispute, Resolved On Statute Of Limitations Grounds, Is Affirmed Against Homeowner On Appeal In Favor Of HOA
Gist Of The Suit Involved CC&Rs, So $38,595 Fee Award To HOA Was Proper. We have posted on many homeowner associations/homeowner disputes. They can be…
Arbitration: $2.2 Million Fee Award In An Arbitration Affirmed On Appeal
Parties Reached A Broad Stipulation To Allow Fee Motions To Be Resolved By The Arbitrator, With Only Unreviewable Legal Error Being Unchallenged. This next case…
Class Actions, Common Fund, Hourly Rates, Substantiation Of Reasonableness Of Fees: Two N.D. Cal. District Judge Decisions In Google Cases Offer Insights Into Class Action Fee Recovery Where Excessive Hourly Rates Were Claimed And Common Fund Recovery Where Inadequate Fee Substantiation Was Presented
Lessons From These Decisions—Substantiate Fees In Detailed Fashion In California Federal Cases And Do Not Request Excessive Hourly Rates. Two Google cases in the U.S….
Experts, Quantum Meruit: Lower Court’s Exclusion Of Quantum Meruit Expert Testimony For Plaintiff Reversed On Appeal
Factual Issues Were At Issue, With The Lodestar Methodology Being Appropriate To Use As Well As New York Outside Counsel’s Rates With Respect To Gauging…
Sanctions: CCP § 177.5 Sanctions For Violating A Court Order To Attend A Deposition Was Stricken As A Matter Of Law
The Reason Was That The Sanctions Order Was Made Payable To Defendants, Rather Than Properly To The Court. Code of Civil Procedure section 177.5 does…
Appealability, Prevailing Party, Section 1717: Although Defendants’ Appeal Of An Order Denying Attorney’s Fees After A Voluntary Dismissal Was Accepted, The Request For Prevailing Party Fees Was Premature
That Was The Case Because Plaintiff And Defendants Were Still In Arbitration. This next case had a little bit of everything: appealability, prevailing party, Civil…
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Private Attorney General: Reduced Fee Award To Prevailing Party, Based On Limited Success And Overlitigation, Was Affirmed On Appeal
Prevailing Party Only Obtained Petition Relief Based On General Prayer Clause, With Lower Court Granting A Remedy To The Prevailing Party–$53,679.63 Out Of $322,798.50 Fee Request Was The Ultimate Award. Prevailing party in Seligman Liberty Station, LLC v. City of San Diego, Case No. C101420 (3d Dist. Oct. 23, 2026; posted Oct. 26, 2026) (unpublished)…
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Choice Of Law, Insurance: Appellate Court Sustains A Lower Court’s Ruling That An Insured’s Invocation Of Delaware’s Bad Faith Litigation Expense Exception For Fee Recovery Was Procedural So That California Did Not Have To Apply It
Case Has An Interesting Discussion, Under A Choice Of Law Analysis, Whether A Fee Claim Is Procedural Or Substantive, And It Was Procedural In The Case Before It. Wing Inflatables v. Certain Underwriters of Lloyd’s, Case No. A172050 (1st Dist., Div. 1 Oct. 23, 2026) (unpublished) was a situation where an insured won major jury…
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Civil Rights, Employment: San Diego-Tomas Opinion Is Certified For Publication
Lower Court Must Make Findings That FEHA Case Was Frivolous/Groundless Before Awarding Costs To A Prevailing Defendant, With Cost Memorandum Not Sufficing. On October 5, 2026, we posted on San Diego-Tomas v. Aspire Bakeries, LLC, Case No. A175977 (1st Dist., Div. 4 originally filed as unpublished on Oct. 2, 2026). It held that a lower…
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Hourly Rates: 2026 8am Survey Shows That Hourly Rates Are Still Prevalent For U.S. Small And Midsize Firms
Hourly Rate Arrangements Eclipse Flat Rate Agreements By A Substantial Margin. 8 am, on October 22, 2026, issued the 8am SMB Law Billing and Payments Report (available on the Internet)—based on an analysis of billing and payment trends for the first half of 2026 from 60,000-plus U.S. firms—showing that hourly billing arrangements remain prevalent among…
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Block Billing, Costs, Hourly Rates, Laffey Matrix, Multipliers, Special Fee Shifting Statutes, Substantiation Of Reasonableness Of Fees: This Next Case Is A Poster Child For How NOT To Support Or Defend Fee And Costs Motions
In The End, The Defense May Have Gotten The Better Side Of It, But The Appellate Court Rejected That Nothing Was Owed To Plaintiff—The Reduced Fee Award Affirmed In No Uncertain Terms In A Remanded Voting Rights Case. We hardly know where to start on this one, but Robles v. City of Ontario, Case No.…
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Costs: Where Partial Success Was Obtained On Appeal, Both Parties Ordered To Split Costs On Appeal
As For Trial Level Costs, Matter Had To Be Remanded To See If A Party Prevailed As Far As A Net Monetary Recovery. Davis v. Fresno Unified School Dist., Case No. F089619 (5th Dist. Oct. 22, 2026) (published), on the merits, involved interpretation of California’s competitive bidding statute and conflict of interest laws. For our…