Second District, Division Reverses Trial Court’s Decision to Not Entertain Fee Request on the Merits.
In C-1 Construction v. Choi, Case No. B217012 (2d Dist., Div. 5 Dec. 3, 2010) (unpublished), C-1 obtain a compensatory award from defendants based on claims it was not allowed to finish certain construction work agreed to under an unsigned AIA contract. The trial court denied a fee request by C-1 because there was no written fee clause governing the parties.
This determination was reversed on appeal.
Reason? The parties agreed by mutual consent to proceed based on the AIA contract having a fees clause, with mutual consent being the dispositive concern. (Khajavi v. Feather River Anesthesiologists Med. Group, 84 Cal.App.4th 32, 60 (2000).) There is no legal requirement that the fees clause be in a signed writing, as long as the parties agreed to proceed under a contract with a fees clause. The matter was remanded to have the lower court entertain C-1‘s fees request on the merits.
BLAWG BONUS: For a collection of Samuel Goldwyn quotations, beginning with, “[a]n oral contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on,” click here.