Appellate Court Determines It Is Appealable Under The Collateral Order Doctrine, But Appellant Still Loses On The Merits.
In Pruchnik v. JCCP464 Common Benefit Comm., Case No. B330338 (2d Dist., Div. 7 Nov. 17, 2025) (published), plaintiff, in a coordinated proceeding involving Toyota unintended acceleration cases with relates issues, settled his case but brought a motion to determine that he was exempt from paying an 8% common benefit fee to the steering committee involved in the coordinated cases—arguing he received no common benefit from other attorneys’ work efforts. The lower court denied the request that plaintiff received no benefit, finding he was not exempt from the surcharge. Two issues were raised on appeal. First, was the order denying the exemption request appealable? Answer, yes because it reviewable under the collateral order doctrine given that the order was akin to an order awarding attorney’s fees. Second, did the lower court abuse its discretion or fail to have substantial evidence for purposes of denying plaintiff’s request? Answer, no, because there was conflicting evidence on whether plaintiff received some benefit from steering committee work—a credibility determination for the judge below.