City Did Obtain Its Litigation Objectives As To Noncompliance With Garage Conversion Arrangement.
In 2007, City of La Verne and defendants/owners of a residential property settled an ongoing lawsuit through a written settlement agreement by which the defendants agreed to convert an apartment on their property back into a garage within nine months and agreed that attorney’s fees could be awarded to the “prevailing party” suing to enforce the settlement. Four years went by with no conversion by defendants. City then sued to specifically perform the agreement, with the lower court granting specific performance, issuing an injunction, and awarding $35,438 in fees against defendants pursuant to the settlement agreement’s fees clause.
Defendants’ appeal in City of La Verne v. Gonzalez, Case No. B254777 (2d Dist., Div. 2 Dec. 31, 2014) (unpublished) was unsuccessful.
City did obtain its litigation objectives in obtaining the specific performance decree and injunction. Although defendants argued that City did not prevail because it did not obtain disgorgement in rents, the appellate court found that the equitable relief sought by the City was the “substance” of what it wanted. It got it, so it prevailed and was entitled to attorney’s fees as a result.