Author name: Marc Alexander

Eminent Domain/POOF!: Postjudgment Fee Awards Against Condemnor In Eminent Domain Action Reversed Because Owner’s Demand Was Not Reasonable And Agency’s Demand Was Not Unreasonable

Cases: Eminent Domain, Cases: POOF!

  $122.650 In Awarded Attorney’s Fees And $61,007.34 In Expert Fees Went Away On Appeal – POOF!      In San Diego Assn. of Governments (SANDAG) v. Vanta, Case Nos. D065476 & D066560 (4th Dist., Div. 1 July 20, 2016) (unpublished), Vanta obtained a $1,441,095.20 compensatory award in an eminent domain case after Vanta offered to […]

Homeowner Associations/POOF!: $159,269.61 In Attorney’s Fees And Costs To HOA Evaporated On Appeal In Landscaping Plan Submission Dispute

Cases: Homeowner Associations, Cases: POOF!

  Sobering Case for HOAs, Good One for Homeowners.      Winchester Community Assn. v. Perrotta, Case No. C075562 (3d Dist. July 21, 2016) (unpublished) involved a situation where homeowners and an HOA got into a dispute over the review of submission of landscaping plans. Association won at the trial level and was awarded attorney’s fees

Prevailing Party: Landlord Voluntarily Dismissing Complaint Properly Exposed To Fee Recovery Under L.A. Municipal Code Rent Control Fee-Shifting Statute Lower Court’s Denial Of Fees Was Legal Error.

Cases: Prevailing Party

       In Intelligent Investments Corp. v. Gonzales, Case No. BV 031101 (L.A. Superior Court Appellate Division June 14, 2016) (published; post on calgov website on July 19, 2016), landlord voluntarily dismissed an unlawful detainer action and a lower court denied attorney’s fees to defendant tenant.  This got reversed on appeal.     Defendant tenant was

Fee Clause Interpretation, Prevailing Party, Section 1717: There Can Be Two Prevailing Parties For Fee Recovery Purposes

Cases: Fee Clause Interpretation, Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Section 1717

One Can Recover Under Section 1717 And The Other Side Can Recover Based On Fees Clause Breadth Under Civil Code Section 1021.          Stadium Promenade, LLC v. Auld Irisher, Orange, LLC, Case No. G051513 (4th Dist., Div. 3 July 15, 2016) (unpublished) is a case which illustrates that both sides in a case can

Probate Two-Fer: Two Reversals—Denial Of Attorney’s Fees For Trustee Work Overturned And Income Beneficiary Fee Recovery Reversed And Remanded

Cases: Probate

  Shelton v. Larson, Case No. G050935 (4th Dist., Div. 3 July 13, 2016) (Unpublished).     In this first one, trustee’s fees and attorney’s fees incurred by trustee were denied altogether in disputes with trust beneficiaries, further complicated by the fact that the probate court never determined the trustee engaged in willful misconduct or gross

In The News . . . . Warner/Chappell Music Seeks $613,000 In Attorney’s Fees From Losing Opponent In Led Zeppelin Copyright Infringement Case

Cases: Celebrities, In The News

  Much Publicized Case Involved “Stairway To Heaven.”     May 6, 1937.  The burning LZ 129 Hindenburg.  Library of Congress.       Warner/Chappell Music defeated a copyright infringement case by the trustee for the late writer of a song called “Taurus,” with the suit claiming that Led Zeppelin copied a small part of the song in

Judgment Enforcement/Settlement: Settlement Agreement Silence On Fees Did Not Prevent Postjudgment Collection Fee Entitlement Where Labor Code Section 218.5 Provided Statutory Basis For Fees

Cases: Judgment Enforcement, Cases: Settlement

  Postjudgment Fee Recovery Properly Allowed Against Settling Defendant.      Khanna v. Sonasoft Corp., Case No. H040007 (6th Dist. June 30, 2016) (unpublished) involved a situation where parties settled a wage/hour dispute under Labor Code section 218.5 under a judicially-supervised settlement agreement which was silent on fee recovery.  However, the trial court did allow postjudgment

Employment: Fourth Circuit Court Of Appeals Rules That FLSA Fees Against A Previously Dismissing Plaintiff Were Not Recoverable By The Defense As Costs As A Matter Of Right

Cases: Employment

  Fourth Circuit Adopts An Intermediate Standard On The Issue.     The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Andrews v. America’s Living Center, LLC, No. 15-1658 (4th Cir. June 28, 2016) (published) confronted a situation as to whether a plaintiff previously dismissing a FLSA suit, but later refilling, had to pay attorney’s fees as costs

Employment: DFEH’s Failure To Plead For Fees Expressly In Complaint Did Not Impact Fee Recovery After Success At A Bench Trial

Cases: Employment

  Considered Costs, Fees Do Not Have To Be Expressly Pled.     In Dept. of Fair Employment and Housing v. FloraTech Landscape Mgt., Inc., Case No. A139762 (1st Dist., Div. 4 June 30, 2016) (unpublished), DFEH filed an administrative charge of disability discrimination against defendant, which transferred the matter to superior court and lost a

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