Fee Clause Was Unambiguous In Nature.
After a lot of trial activity (including fraud claims adjudicated against a defendant in a bench trial), the successful plaintiff obtained an attorney’s fees award based on an LLC operating agreement provision allowing for fees limited to “reimbursement of attorney fees, costs and expenses incurred in connection with the arbitration.” Defendant rightfully appealed fee recovery based on the clause only limiting work to an arbitration, which did not occur. The appellate court agreed, reversing the fee recovery as a matter of law in Moladina v. Naimi, Case No. B261689 (2d Dist., Div. 5 Jan. 10, 2018) (unpublished).