Premature to Award Fee Until Dust Settles and Winner Can Be Declared.
The next case we look at has interesting facts.
Freeman, Freeman & Smiley, a Los Angeles law firm, sued its landlord after landlord allowed a third party to display supergraphic advertisements on the outside of the leased building in which it was leasing space. The advertisements consisted, among other things, of a giant taco ad for Del Taco and a movie about World War II Germany depicting the main character in a Nazi uniform. The law firm, obviously feeling that the ads were out of character with its business, sued to get relief from the ads. The trial court sustained landlord’s demurrer without leave to amend and awarded it $55,607.50 in attorney’s fees presumably under a fees clause in the lease.
On appeal, law firm obtained a reversal of the demurrer ruling such that it was allowed leave to re-plead its complaint claims against landlord in Freeman, Freeman & Smiley v. SMIII Sepulveda Center, Case Nos. B215981/B221831 (2d Dist., Div. 8 July 6, 2011) (unpublished).
That reversal also impacted the fees award adversely, because the lower court must await the final resolution of the claims before determining the prevailing party and awarding attorney’s fees. (Poseidon Development, Inc. v. Woodland Lane Estates, LLC, 152 Cal.App.4th 1106, 1120 (2007).) Fee award reversed as premature, one way or the other.