Author name: Marc Alexander

Choice Of Law: Plaintiffs Not Entitled To Attorney’s Fees Under Delaware Corporate Benefit Doctrine Where Causal Link Between Plaintiffs’ Activities And Corporate Benefit Was Rebutted And Shown To Be Nonexistent

Cases: Choice of Law

  Causal Link Was Missing Based On The Record.      Plaintiffs in a putative class action involving the proposed mergers between two advertising billboard companies, Outdoor and InterMedia, moved to recover attorney’s fees when another company (KSE) bought Outdoor for an enhanced purchase price, claiming to have benefitted Outdoor shareholders by an additional $57 million […]

Bankruptcy: Attorney’s Fees Incurred By Plaintiff During Litigation After Confirmation Of Debtor’s Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Plan Were Discharged

Cases: Bankruptcy Efforts

  Although Plaintiff’s Claim Arose Pre-Petition, Plaintiff’s Post-Discharge Litigation Conduct Was Within The Discharge “Fair Contemplation” Of The Parties.      In Picerne Construction Corp. v. Castellino Villas, A.K.F., LLC, Case No. 12-57186 (9th Cir. Sept. 6, 2016) (published), the Ninth Circuit confronted whether the bankruptcy court properly concluded that attorney’s fees incurred by plaintiff incurred

Lodestar/Special Fee Shifting Statute: Ninth Circuit Remands FOIA Fee Award For A “Re-Do” Given That District Court Relied On Stale Cases On Prevailing Hourly Rate For Winning Plaintiffs

Cases: Lodestar, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

  Majority Found Appeal Notice Encompassed Fee Award, But Dissent Did Not Agree And Found Plaintiffs Did Not Provide Hourly Rate Evidence In The Right Time Period And For FOIA Cases.      Hiken v. Department of Defense, No. 13-17073 (9th Cir. Sept. 6, 2016) (published) is a situation where magistrates, district judges, and the Ninth

Civil Rights: Plaintiffs, Losing Two Summary Judgment Motions, Properly Assessed $35,185 In Attorney’s Fees Under Baseless FEHA Fee-Shifting Statute

Cases: Civil Rights

  Trial Judge Reduced Defense’s First Request By 75%.      In Radakovic v. County of Los Angeles, Case No. B266194 (2d Dist., Div. 5 Sept. 1, 2016) (unpublished), a trial judge awarded attorney’s fees to the defense (L.A. County) in the sum of $35,185 after one plaintiff lost a summary judgment motion and then plaintiffs

Special Fee Shifting Statute: Ninth Circuit Determines That EAJA Fee-Shifting Substantial Justification Determination Depends On Governmental Position As A Whole And Determines That Bad Faith Conduct Can Be Apportioned Out For Purposes Of Fee Entitlement

Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

    $419,987.36 Fee Award/$34,768.71 Costs Award Gets Remanded For Another Look.        In Ibrahim v. U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, Nos. 14-16161/14-17272 (9th Cir. Aug. 30, 2016) (published), a plaintiff won a week-long bench trial in which the district judge determined that he was improperly placed on a terrorist/No-Fly List. Plaintiff then moved

Fee Clause Interpretation/Paralegals: Broad Fees Clause Justified $93,200 Fee Award, Inclusive Of Work By Paralegals

Cases: Fee Clause Interpretation, Cases: Paralegal Time

  Paralegals, Even Uncertificated Ones, Are Compensable In Fee Proceedings.      The Fourth District, Division 3, in Alcone v. SLV Associates, LLC, Case No. G051813 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Aug. 30, 2016) (unpublished), dealt with a trustee under a lease who prevailed where there was a broad “arising out of lease” fees clause. Trustee then

Fee Clause Interpretation: Defendant Developer Winning Summary Judgment Correctly Denied Fee Recovery

Cases: Fee Clause Interpretation

  Reason Was That Defense Involving A Contractual Lease Did Not Fall Within “Action” Language Of The Fees Clause.      Although this decision in unpublished, the Second District, Division Two has weighed in on an issue pending before the California Supreme Court in the Mountain Air case, namely, whether developer’s successful invocation of a settlement

Substantiation Of Reasonableness Of Fees/Reasonableness Of Fees: Two Unpublished Decisions Offer Good Roadmaps On How To Structure And Amend Fee Petition For Success, Where Appellate Court Sustained Substantial Fee Awards

Cases: Reasonableness of Fees, Cases: Substantiation of Reasonableness of Fees

  Salameh v. 5th and K Master Assn., Inc., Case No. D067232 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Aug. 30, 2016) (Unpublished): $4.88 Million In Aggregate Fee Awards Upheld On Appeal.      This involved hotel unit condo owners’ over 3-year battle against the HOA and various management entities in which owners sought over $64 million for overcharging

Probate/SLAPP/Costs Trifecta: Couple Of Reversals And One Affirmance In Multi-Cross Over Areas Of Practice

Cases: Costs, Cases: Probate, Cases: SLAPP

  Probate—Corman v. Corman, Case No. B251513 (2d Dist., Div. 7 Aug. 29, 2016) (Unpublished)—Partial Beneficiary Success Did Not Justify Fee Award.      In this first one, there was a nasty probate fight (I guess one could conjecture whether any are other than nasty) over trust accountings, which pitted the trustees against beneficiaries in most

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