Our local appellate court in Sampson v. The Richardson Group, Case No. G046234 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Jan. 30, 2013) (unpublished) (3-0; author: A.P.J. Rylaarsdam) affirmed a determination that a contractor on a county construction project prevailed against subcontractor when judgment was entered against subcontractor, even though that party obtained some partial success in a prior declaratory relief action.
Contractor was the prevailing party, because it defeated subcontractor’s subsequent breach of contract/prompt payment statute action. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1032(a)(4). Because the declaratory relief actions were never consolidated with the subsequent action, this also explained why the defense request for $140,000 was reduced to only $6,000 because the fees incurred related to the prior declaratory relief claim. In any event, contractor certainly prevailed in the subsequent action by defensing the case.