Recent Articles
Homeowner Associations: Losing Party’s Failure To Oppose Prevailing Neighbor’s Fee Award Was Fatal On Appeal
A Forfeiture Occurred. Bauer v. Likhterman, Case No. G064695 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Jan. 12, 2026) (unpublished), authored by Justice Scott for a 3-0 panel,…
Arbitration, Section 1717: Barbanell Decision Now Published
Opinion Held That A Prevailing Party In A Discrete Proceeding To Obtain A Replacement Arbitrator Is Entitled To Contractual Attorney’s Fees Award. On December 22,…
Special Fee Shifting Statutes: Winning Plaintiff In Car Towing Dispute Did Not Have Fee Recovery Entitlement Under Civil Code Section 3070
Interlocutory Determination Of Entitlement Was Not Binding, With Section 3070 Being Inapplicable With Respect To Fee Recovery. Plaintiff won an apartment complex car towing dispute…
SLAPP: SLAPP Merits Appeal Did Not Stay Any Fee Proceeding For The Prevailing SLAPP Defendant
Plaintiff’s Aggressive Litigation Tactics Justified The Amount Of The Fee Award. In OneTaste Incorporated v. NetFlix, Case No. B342250 (2d Dist., Div. 3 Jan. 8,…
Ethics, Settlement: Client May Ratify An Unauthorized Settlement Unless It Was Not Truly Voluntary
Clients In the Case Did Ratify, Which Earned The Settling Former Attorneys A Nice Contingency Fee Award. Chong v. Mardirossian Akaragian LLP, Case No. B341157…
Private Attorney General: Lower Court Abused Its Discretion In Awarding Fees Under CCP § 1021.5 Without Considering Specific Factors Outlined In The Housing Accountability Act
$1,286,144.37 Fee Award Against City Reversed And Remanded. Coalition of Pacificans for An Updated Plan v. City Council of the City of Pacifica, Case No….
Section 1717: Fee Recovery By Self-Represented Husband Reversed As A Matter Of Law Under Trope Prohibition, With CCP § 1021 Characterization Being Inconsequential
Plus, Wife Also Represented By Husband Lawyer Had Commonly Held Interests, So Her Fees Were Barred Under Trope. As we come to the end of…
Appeal Sanctions: Appellate Court Sanctions Appellants’ Attorney For Filing A False Statement Of Settlement
Also, Respondents Can Get OSC Response Fees And Costs On The Issue. All practitioners should get attuned to the fact that appellate courts are imposing…
Homeowner Associations, Lodestar: $52,076 Fee Award To Prevailing Homeowner In Director Election Challenge Is Affirmed On Appeal
Lack Of Reporter’s Transcript Meant There Was An Inadequate Record, But The Lower Court Correctly Applied Lodestar Principles In Fashioning An Award. Plaintiff homeowner successfully…
Arbitration: 2/6 DCA Remands Employer’s Failure To Timely Pay Arbitration Expenses Post-Hohenshelt To See If Employer Had Plausible Excuses
Employer Paid Expenses 7 Days Late. The 2/6 DCA, in line with other intermediate appellate courts, remanded a decision not excusing an employer from paying…
Year in Review – 2025
Mike, Shanna, and Marc’s Top Twenty-Two Fee Decisions for 2025—Part 2 of 2. Here is Part 2 of our Top 22 Fee/Costs Decisions for 2025. …
Year In Review – 2025
Mike, Shanna, and Marc’s Top Twenty-Two Fee Decisions for 2025– Part 1 of 2. As is our tradition during the Holidays, we post on the…
Arbitration: Where Parties Failed To Remind Arbitrator About Stipulation To Bear Fees/Costs, Subsequent Award Of Fees To Plaintiff In The Arbitration Was Not Subject To Vacatur
Circumstances Did Not Fall Into “Legally Dispositive Facts” Vacatur Principle. In VIP Mortgage Incorporated v. Gates, No. 24-7624 (9th Cir. Dec. 22, 2025) (published), a…
Substantiation Of Reasonableness Of Fees: Where Prevailing Party Landlord Provided A Less Redacted Abstract Of Time Spent On The Case, That Substantiation Supported A Lower Court’s Award Of $94,344 In Fees
Prevailing Party Voluntarily Lowered Its Fee Request Down From $142,842. Prevailing landlord was given a second chance when the lower court observed that billing substantiation…
Private Attorney General: Where Prior Prevailing Parties Had Their Rulings Abrogated By Legislative Action Resulting In A Reversal Of Prior Opinions, They Were Not Successful Under CCP § 1021.5
Prior Opinions In Plaintiffs’ Favor Had No Precedential Value. In Make UC A Good Neighbor et al. v. Regents of University of California, Case No….
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Homeowner Associations: Losing Party’s Failure To Oppose Prevailing Neighbor’s Fee Award Was Fatal On Appeal
A Forfeiture Occurred. Bauer v. Likhterman, Case No. G064695 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Jan. 12, 2026) (unpublished), authored by Justice Scott for a 3-0 panel, reminds litigants and practitioners that an appellate challenge to a fee award will be forfeited if there is no opposition to the fees motion in the court below. (Blackburn v.…
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Arbitration, Section 1717: Barbanell Decision Now Published
Opinion Held That A Prevailing Party In A Discrete Proceeding To Obtain A Replacement Arbitrator Is Entitled To Contractual Attorney’s Fees Award. On December 22, 2025, we posted on Barbanell v. Lodge, Case No. D081493 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Dec. 17, 2025), which was unpublished at the time. It held that a prevailing party in…
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Special Fee Shifting Statutes: Winning Plaintiff In Car Towing Dispute Did Not Have Fee Recovery Entitlement Under Civil Code Section 3070
Interlocutory Determination Of Entitlement Was Not Binding, With Section 3070 Being Inapplicable With Respect To Fee Recovery. Plaintiff won an apartment complex car towing dispute against some defendants, but she was denied requested attorney’s fees under Civil Code section 3070 in Ramsey v. Moore St. Investments, Inc., Case Nos. D084287 et al. (4th Dist., Div.…
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SLAPP: SLAPP Merits Appeal Did Not Stay Any Fee Proceeding For The Prevailing SLAPP Defendant
Plaintiff’s Aggressive Litigation Tactics Justified The Amount Of The Fee Award. In OneTaste Incorporated v. NetFlix, Case No. B342250 (2d Dist., Div. 3 Jan. 8, 2026) (unpublished), plaintiff lost a SLAPP motion targeted against his defamation suit (the merits of which were affirmed in an earlier appellate court opinion), with the lower court awarding the…
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Ethics, Settlement: Client May Ratify An Unauthorized Settlement Unless It Was Not Truly Voluntary
Clients In the Case Did Ratify, Which Earned The Settling Former Attorneys A Nice Contingency Fee Award. Chong v. Mardirossian Akaragian LLP, Case No. B341157 (2d Dist., Div. 5 Jan. 8, 2026) (partially published; fee discussion published) contains a good discussion of when a client can ratify an unauthorized settlement reached by former attorneys and…
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Private Attorney General: Lower Court Abused Its Discretion In Awarding Fees Under CCP § 1021.5 Without Considering Specific Factors Outlined In The Housing Accountability Act
$1,286,144.37 Fee Award Against City Reversed And Remanded. Coalition of Pacificans for An Updated Plan v. City Council of the City of Pacifica, Case No. A170704 (1st Dist., Div. 4 Dec. 30, 2025) (partially published; substantive fee discussion published) stands for the proposition that in fashioning a private attorney general fee award under CCP §…