Appealability: Defense Side’s Failure To Appeal Fee Award/Amended Judgment, Much Less Include Fee Motion Paperwork In Appellate Record, Doomed Any Challenge On Appeal.

$125,000 Fee Award Challenge Could Not Be Entertained.

            In RSF Associates, LLC v. Nieto, Case No. D076227 (4^th Dist., Div. 1 Feb. 18, 2021) (unpublished), plaintiff contractor won a $37,222.61 damages award against a landscaper defendant, with the defense cross-complaint recovering nothing.  Later, plaintiff obtained a fees/costs award against defendant of more than $125,000, with an amended judgment issued later to include the compensatory award plus the fees/costs award. 

            The defense was not happy with the result, including the fee award.  However, the appellate court could not even consider the fees/costs challenges.  The defense only appealed the original judgment, not the subsequent fee award or the amended judgment including the fees/costs award.  Beyond that, the defense’s designation of record included no pleadings relating to the fees motion.  Because no appeal was made of the separate fees/costs award, jurisdiction to entertain challenges on that award was not present.  However, the failure to even provide a record of the fees proceedings also doomed any challenges on the merits, even if the jurisdictional obstacle could have been surmounted.