Author name: Marc Alexander

Lien For Attorney’s Fees, Retainer Agreements: Claimants In Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act Cannot Assign Attorney’s Fees Award To Handling Attorney

Cases: Liens for Attorney Fees, Cases: Retainer Agreements

  Assignment Void Under The Anti-Assignment Act; However, Not All Is Lost—Contractual Attorney’s Lien Is Allowable As Against Government In CAFRA Actions.     Under the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act (CAFRA), successful claimants challenging the U.S. government’s seizure of property can obtain an attorney’s fee award against the government, which happened in the next case […]

Arbitration/Prevailing Party: “Dog The Bounty Hunter” Loses Legal Malpractice Arbitration Claims To Former Attorneys, Who Recover Cross-Claims And Prevailing Party Attorney’s Fees Also

Cases: Arbitration, Cases: Prevailing Party

  Fees On Legal Malpractice For Former Attorneys Are $659,047 And Cross-Claims Recovery Is $227,420.     In a case where “[t]he facts underlying this appeal are much more interesting than most facts we see on appeal,” the appellate court in Chapman v. Bollard, Case No. G049579 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Aug. 11, 2015) (unpublished) confronted

Arbitration/POOF!: Postjudgment Arbitration Confirmation Attorney’s Fees Award Goes Away When Appellate Court Found Arbitration Was Not The Proper Controversy Forum

Cases: Arbitration, Cases: POOF!

  Parties Have To Go Back To Court, Says Appellate Court.     In Ahern v. Asset Management Consultants Inc., Case Nos. B253974/B257684 (2d Dist., Div. 7 Aug. 11, 2015) (unpublished), defendants successfully moved to compel arbitration against plaintiffs based on the theory they were bound by an arbitration clause in a real estate purchase/sale agreement

Insurance: Insurer May Be Able To Recoup Defense Costs From Cumis Counsel

Cases: Insurance

  . . .Under Limited “Padded Bill” Circumstances.     We do commend that any insurance or tort practitioners read Hartford Cas. Ins. Co. v. J.R. Marketing, LLC, Case No. S211645 (Cal. Supreme Court Aug. 10, 2015) (published) given that it does allow insurers to directly pursue Cumis counsel for restitution based discovery for padded bills

Judgment Enforcement: $5,000 Fee Award Reversed Because Judgment Creditor’s Motion Was Really Brought Under A Statutory Scheme Not Having A Fee Entitlement Basis

Cases: Judgment Enforcement

  Lower Court Erroneously Believed Post-Judgment Enforcement Motion Was Under Statute Allowing For Fees.     Fee entitlement is always a threshold issue in attorney’s fees proceeding.  It was no less the case in Cardona v. Licher Direct Mail, Inc., Case No. B254783 (2d Dist., Div. 2 Aug. 6, 2015) (unpublished).     There, a judgment creditor

SLAPP: Defendants Losing Frivolous SLAPP Motion Socked With Roughly $101,000 In Attorney’s Fees Awarded To Successfully Opposing Plaintiff

Cases: SLAPP

Dispute Was Over Ownership Of Purebred Australian Terriers.   Australian Terrier Puppy.  Wikipedia.  Author:  Jay22897.  Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.       Dogs, palm trees, ocean views, and invading vegetation seem to draw the rankle of many a litigant, often leading to contentious suits where one side wins or no one prevails—all meaning that

Deadlines: Motion To Void Fee Award One Year Later Was Untimely

Cases: Deadlines

  Judgment Awarding Fees Was Not Void, So Attack Was Unsuccessful.     In Francis v. Foxx, Case No. B256423 (2d Dist., Div. 8 Aug. 6, 2015) (unpublished), plaintiff tenants won $3,445 in a landlord dispute after a bench trial, but then were awarded $47,430 (out of a requested $70,000) in Civil Code section 1717 contractual

SLAPP Two-Fer: Notice Of Appeal Not Mentioning SLAPP Fee Recovery Deprived Appellate Court Of Jurisdiction And Lower Court Did Not Abuse Discretion By Denying Fee Recovery To Plaintiff Defeating SLAPP Motion

Cases: SLAPP

  Shoen v. Vista Lanai Apts. Partnership, Case No. B260726 (2d Dist., Div. 5 Aug. 5, 2015) (unpublished).     An appeal of a SLAPP grant and a subsequent order granting SLAPP fees to the prevailing was dismissed.  The appeal of the SLAPP grant was untimely, with losing plaintiffs going 30 days past the jurisdictional 180-day

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