Nothing In The Civil Code Provided Fee Entitlement.
In T McGee Electric, Inc. v. FH II Homebuilders, Inc., Case No. D088372 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Sept. 22, 2026) (unpublished), defendants general contractor and property owner obtained a clarification order from a lower court as to the impact of a mechanic’s lien release bond for a lien claim recorded by a disgruntled subcontractor. The lower court did not extinguish the lien (because it was timely recorded and prosecuted in court), but found it was not a lien on the property because the lien could be pursued against the bond, although defendants procedurally moved under inapt Civil Code provisions applicable to mechanic’s liens. The lower court awarded attorney’s fees of $4,250 to defendants, presumably under Civil Code section 8488.
Plaintiff subcontractor appealed. Although defendants’ bases for the clarification order were flawed under the Civil Code, the trial judge correctly granted defendants declaratory relief about the effect of the release bond. (The appellate court indicated that a cross-complaint in the lien foreclosure action was the proper course of action.) However, the fee award was reversed as a matter of law because (1) section 8488 only applied to expired liens (not the case here), and (2) no Civil Code provision allowed for fee entitlement under the circumstances.