No Prejudice In Arguing All Defendants Should Be Liable/Failure to Claim Tort of Another Fee Damages At Trial Dispositive Against Fee Petitioner.
DeSantis v. Oakmont LLC, Case No. A128220 (1st Dist., Div. 5 Dec. 7, 2012) (unpublished) is a wild case on appeal involving parties suing over a failed real estate transaction, with attorney’s fees being awarded against former owner/seller to the tune of $477,031. Everyone appealed on multiple grounds; but, ultimately, the matter got affirmed across the board.
With respect to the fee recovery, the appellate court was not sympathetic to winner’s claim that fees should be assessed against all three defendants, not just the LLC owner. Where is the prejudice, said the reviewing court? Winner did not show how a multiple defense judgment would have produced any additional pecuniary benefit such that winner was aggrieved on appeal. Beyond that, the only real theory was tort of another, but winner did not present proof as damages during the chief-in-case, which meant the damages (fee) claim was waived.
The trial court’s reduction of requested fees by 10% was not error, because its decision to apportion out work for other defendants was not unreasonable at all. (Cruz v. Ayromloo, 155 Cal.App.4th 1270, 1274, 1277-1278 (2007).)