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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…
Employment, POOF!: $1.691 Million Fee Award Gets Reversed Upon Reversal Of A Merits Determination On A Wage/Hour Statement Merits Judgment
Generally, Fee Award Does Not Stand If A Serious Merits Judgment Reversal Occurs. In Palamino v. Northrup Gruman System Corp., Case Nos. H051676 et al….
Probate: General Equitable Powers Do Not Authorize Fee Recovery To A Trustee Sued In Her Individual Capacity Because Those Fees Would Not Benefit The Trust
Lack Of Statutory Authorization Was Dispositive Based On The Individual Stake For Fee Recovery—Equitable Powers Extended To Protect Trust Interests. McKinley v. Harris, Case No….
Consumer Statutes: Two Song-Beverly Act Fee Rulings On Deadlines And Lodestar Methodology From An Orange County Superior Court Judge Are Instructive
Judge Hesseltine Issued October 1, 2026 Tentative Rulings On Fee Applications. Although we usually post on California appellate opinions, we found that Orange County Superior…
Special Fee Shifting Statutes: $137,184 Attorney’s Fees Award Under Corporations Code Section 1604 Reversed As A Matter Of Law
Prevailing Plaintiff Did Not Bring An Action Or Proceeding Under Sections 1600 Or 1601 Such That Section 1604’s Permissive Fee Statute Did Not Apply. The…
Private Attorney General: $528,094.50 Fee Award To Nonprofit Plaintiff Against City Of Fresno Affirmed On Appeal In Dispute Over Validity of Measure P
However, Portion Of Fee Award Awarded Against Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Was Reversed On Appeal Because It Was Not An “Opposing Party” Under CCP §…
Allocation, Block Billing, Hourly Rates, Lodestar, Trade Secrets: Seattle Federal District Judge Awarded Prevailing Plaintiff Parties In Trade Secrets Act Case About $1.25 Million In Fees And A Little Over $42,000 In Costs
Small Reductions Were Made, And No Allocation Was Required. Under both Washington’s Uniform Trade Secrets Act and the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act, there are…
POOF!, Trade Secrets: $40 Million Jury Verdict And Over $17 Million Fee Award In Defend Trade Secrets Act Case Went POOF! On Appeal
The Reason Was That The Lower Court Prejudicially Misallocated The Burden Of Dis-Proof To The Defense. Misallocation of the burden of proof, if not harmless…
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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 Dist., Div. 1 Oct. 21, 2026) (unpublished) involved an ex-husband’s unsuccessful appeal of a fairly minor Family Code section 2030 fee-shifting award, which he incorrectly characterized as a section 271…
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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 Dist., Div. 4 Oct. 20, 2026) (unpublished), a putative intervenor in a property partition action was denied intervention, which was affirmed in a prior appeal. Although intervenor attempted to get…
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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 heartbreaking for each side, sometimes because no one is the prevailing party such that substantial attorney’s fees are eaten by both parties. In the next case, it was resolved through…
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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 may be a good reminder to make sure that arbitration stipulations are narrowly worded and possibly provide for more scrutinized review; if not, the broad stipulations will be enforced as…
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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. District Court, Northern District of California, offer some guidance for class action/common fund practitioners on what to do and not do when requesting a substantial fee recovery in either a…
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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 Reasonableness Of In-House Counsel Plaintiff’s Efforts In New York Litigation. Missakian v. Amusement Industry, Inc., Case No. B348390 (2d Dist., Div. 5 Oct. 19, 2026) (unpublished) is a case where…