Marik v. University Village, LLC, Case No. B236248 et al. (2d Dist., Div. 3 Feb. 19, 2013) (unpublished) involved a situation where nine defendants were awarded collective $130,137.50 attorney’s fees after successfully defending a prior appeal where an arbitration award was affirmed (inclusive of arbitral fee recovery). Plaintiff appealed.
Plantiff did well to appeal.
Losing plaintiff challenged the collective award because certain defendants were not entitled to post-judgment/appellate fees because the underlying operating agreements did not allow for fee recovery. The appellate court agreed. Because this involved appellate work, no one–including the trial and appellate courts–were bound on what the arbitrator did before on fee recovery. Only three defendants likely were entitled to fees, so the matter was remanded for a fee “refix” and allocation of fees based on true fee entitlement under the governing contracts.