Husband Failed to Meet His Burden on Appeal.
Husband beat wife’s prior fee shifting, needs-based denial simply because she failed to file an updated income and expense statement under local rules. Unruffled, wife renewed the request later and added more fodder, seeking a total of $320,510.50 in fees for periods stretching back to Fall 2001 through September 2008. (Lots of fees; right, folks?) What did the trial court do and what did the appellate court do?
The trial court awarded about $192,000 in fees to wife and denied husband’s dueling fee requests. Husband appealed, in Marriage of Nielsen and Olds, Case No. A126521 (1st Dist., Div. 4 Oct. 28, 2010) (unpublished).
The appellate court affirmed.
Husband mainly argued that res judicata made the interlocutory procedural denial dispositive in connection with the later ruling. This did not go very far, because res judicata does not apply to a prior adverse judgment that was rendered not on the merits but for procedural reasons. Result was affirmance of the fee award.