Remand In Order to See If Any Exceptions Applied.
In Mobasser v. Yermian, Case No. B247269 (2d Dist., Div. 7 Apr. 22, 2014) (unpublished), defendant appealed a lower court’s refusal to award $22,408 in postjudgment attorney’s fees based on plaintiff’s denial of a request for admission that plaintiff was not an employee. CCP § 2033.420 allows fee-shifting if an RFA denial was not justified and a requesting party can show the fees were causally attributable to the denial.
The defense won a remand on this issue. Plaintiff did stipulate that he was a partner deep into the litigation, which the appellate court construed as a tacit concession that he was not an employee. Even though no jury verdict was reached on the issue, the defense did have to present proof and a remand was in order to see if the RFA denial was justified so as to prevent fee-shifting in a post-appeal proceeding.