Santisas Was Dispositive.
This case was not a hard one for the appellate court to decide. A cross-complainant did a formal dismissal without prejudice of a cross-complaint, which inspired the lower court to deny a fee recovery request by the opposite side. The appellate court, upon appeal of the fee denial in Flanagan v. Donohue, Case No. A136055 (1st Dist., Div. 4 June 13, 2013) (unpublished), found that this formal dismissal meant that the dismissing party was not subject to fee exposure on the dismissed contract-based claims under Santisas v. Goodin, 17 Cal.4th 599, 613 and its progeny. Fee denial affirmed.