Reversal for Leave to Assert Statutory Trade Secret Claims Means Trial Court Award Goes Away . . . For Now. When a judgment is reversed on appeal, an attorney’s fees award often gets reversed as premature until further proceedings decides who wins or whether a party eventually wins on a fee entitled basis. […]
Attorney Should Not Be Penalized for Civil Rights Plaintiff’s Choice To Go To Trial. As reported at Law Blog on October 12, 2012, the First Circuit Court of Appeals has issued an interesting civil rights fee decision in Diaz v. Jiten Hotel Mgt., Inc., Case No. 11-2400 (1st Cir. Oct. 12, 2012).
First Aftermath of Published Rickley v. Goodfriend Decision On July 30, 2012, we posted on Rickley v. Goodfriend, 207 Cal.App.4th 1528 (2012) (Rickley I), which reversed a fee denial reversed, based on CCP § 1218 which does allow contempt proceeding fee-shifting in the right circumstances. The matter was remanded, however, to determine if
B of A Discount Proposal to Attorneys Getting More Customer Referrals From It Draws Uproar. As reported by Debra Cassens Weiss in an October 11, 2012 post on the ABA Journal, some legal experts are in an uproar over the Bank of America seeking a credit on its annual attorney’s fees payables based
Trial Court Has Some Interesting Discussion of Trees Along the Way. DK Art Publishing, Inc. v. City Art, Inc., Case No. B229122 (2d Dist., Div. 5 Oct. 11, 2012) (unpublished) is a sober reminder that game playing in discovery proceedings can result in serious sanctions that will indeed be affirmed upon review by
Income Earning Disparity Was Tangible and Failure to Provide More Information on 271 Request Was Fatal. Husband challenged two things in Marriage of Smith, Case No. B232161 (2d Dist., Div. 8 Oct. 10, 2012) (unpublished): (1) a needs-based Family Code 2030/2032 fee award of $9,000 to wife; and (2) refusal to award him
Fair Game In Grossman v. Superior Court, Case No. E056931 (4th Dist., Div. 2 Oct. 10, 2012) (unpublished), the Riverside-based appellate court issued a writ determining that a California Public Records Act request for how much counsel was paid for defending a school district case was a proper request, akin to “fair game” information
Collateral Order Doctrine and MRL “Arising From” Principles Explored. In Hall v. West, Case No. D060402 (4th Dist., Div. 2 Oct. 10, 2012) (unpublished), defendants moved to SLAPP plaintiff’s extant complaint, prompting plaintiffs to obtain leave to file a second amended complaint and then dismissing the action without prejudice. The trial court proceeded
Close of Relationship Between Firm and “Of Counsel” Found Dispositive. Presiding Justice Mallano, on behalf of a 3-0 panel of the Second District, Division 1, adopted a bright-line test in Sands & Associates v. Juknavorian, Case No. B232686 (2d Dist., Div. 1 Oct. 10, 2012) (published). The appellate court decided that a firm
Post-Fire Crisis Management Decisions Justified BLM’s Grazing Permit Position, Even Though Found Ultimately Unsuccessful. Western Watersheds Project v. Ellis, Case No. 11-35464 (9th Cir. Oct. 9, 2012) (published) involved an attorney’s fees dispute that, as the Ninth Circuit observed early on in its opinion, “added a rancorous coda to long-running grazing permit litigation
