SLAPP Appeal Did Not Stay Fee Motion and Block Billing Challenge Rejected.
In Mangine v. Steier, Case Nos. B219022/B222822 (2d Dist., Div. 7 Aug. 9, 2011) (unpublished), plaintiff was SLAPPed and lost a summary adjudication of a landlord-tenant dispute in which the lower court granted attorney’s fees of $71,500 to present landlord under Civil Code section 1942.4 (which allows fee recovery to the winner of a habitability breach claim). Disappointed tenant appealed.
Disappointment continued when the fee award was affirmed despite several procedural challenges.
Tenant argued that the postjudgment fee order was stayed by the prior appeal of the anti-SLAPP ruling, but that argument was done in by Varian Medical Systems, Inc. v. Delfino, 35 Cal.4th 180, 196-200 (2005).
She also protested over some fee substantiation billing material where block billing was present (Martino v. Denevi, 182 Cal.App.3d 553, 558-559 (1986)), but the appellate court found that an attorney’s declaration about number of hours worked in tandem with the lower court’s familiarity about lawyer work could surmount this type of challenge–which was in the appeal at hand.