Second District, Division 8, in Opinions by Justice Flier, Affirms Two Fee Awards, One For Appellate Work In a Civil Case and One in an Arbitration Context.
#1: Moore v. Pro Value Properties, Inc., Case No. B216061 (2d Dist., Div. 8 July 6, 2010) (unpublished)
In pro per plaintiffs/appellants challenged a $120,360.75 fee award for work in a prior appeal (out of a requested $139,330.25) that resulted in a successful result for defendants, with plaintiffs not challenging the amount of fees awarded by the trial court for a long-cause trial of a specific performance action. The lower court reduced requested appellate fees by about $19,000, finding that some of the work could have been performed by an associate or paralegal with a lower billing rate but generally finding that partner hourly rates of $505 and $560 were justified for much of the appellate work. On appeal, Division 8 found no abuse of discretion, especially because the appellate panel itself was aware that the prior appeal required the expenditure of a substantial amount of lawyer’s time. The reduction by the lower court showed that its award was well reasoned. Affirmed.
#2: Christensen, Glaser, Fink, Jacobs, Weil & Shapiro v. Cove Management Partners, LLC, Case No. B217316 (2d Dist., Div. 8 July 6, 2010) (unpublished)
The second case involved defendants’ appeal of an arbitrator’s award of $938,457 in fees and costs to a well-known law firm, as well as $327,792 in attorney’s fees and $152,105 in costs associated with the arbitration. Defendants appealed, but faced some very big obstacles. They never asked the arbitrator to correct the award. They also never filed a petition with the superior court to vacate the award within the 100-day requirement but instead filed an incorrect request that the superior court correct the award. (Louise Gardens of Encino Homeowners’ Assn., Inc. v. Truck Ins. Exchange, Inc. (2000) 82 Cal.App.4th 648, 659 [appeal of confirmation award cannot be used to circumvent petition to vacate deadline].) This failure to use a crucial specified procedural resulted, yet again, in affirmance of the entire arbitration award, with costs on appeal also ordered to the winning plaintiffs.