Author name: Marc Alexander

Fee Clause Interpretation: Attorney’s Fees Award Against Nonprevailing Parties Reversed Where Fee Clause Only Covered Arbitrations, Not Results in Court

Cases: Fee Clause Interpretation

  $20,000 Fee Award Went POOF!      Rancho Palo Verde Homeowners Assn. v. Coffman, Case No. D063135 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Sept. 18, 2014) (unpublished) did not present much difficulty for the appellate court as far as resolving the challenge to a $20,000 fee award against non-prevailing parties. The operative fees clause only applied to […]

Costs: Los Alamitos Unified School Dist. Opinion Now Published

Cases: Costs

  Service Publication Expenses Recoverable by Prevailing School District.      On September 11, 2014, we posted on Los Alamitos Unified School Dist. v. Howard Contracting, Inc., a Fourth District, Division 3 unpublished decision at the time. As far as what we blog about, it validated that a prevailing school district can obtain reimbursement of service

Indemnity/Intellectual Property/News: 3rd Circuit Reverses SJ Requiring Advancement Of Fees To Programmer Finding “Officer” Indemnity Language Ambiguous And District Judge Denies Linex’s Request To Defer Fee Ruling Under Patent Statute

Cases: Indemnity, Cases: Intellectual Property, In The News

Third Circuit Finds “Officer” Language To Be Ambiguous.      In Aleynikov v. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., No. 13-4237 (3d Cir. Sept. 3, 2014) (precedential), a Goldman Sachs computer programmer with the title of “vice president” obtained a summary judgment ruling requiring Goldman Sachs to advance him attorney’s fees incurred in his defense of certain

Fee Clause Interpretation/Section 1717/Nonsignatories: Individual Non-Signatory Plaintiff Hit With Fee Exposure Based On Breadth Of Fee Clause

Cases: Fee Clause Interpretation, Cases: Nonsignatories, Cases: Section 1717

    $370,850 Fee Award Affirmed On Appeal.        In Bribiesca v. Pacific Perfusion, Inc., Case No. D063256 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Sept. 17, 2014) (unpublished), a losing individual plaintiff appealed a contractual fees award of $370,850 in favor of the defense. Plaintiff’s appeal did not succeed in reducing the award.      The first

In The News . . . . BigLaw Partner Compensation Up In 2014 And N.D. Cal. District Judge Approves Target Class Action Fee Request With Some Interesting Reductions

In The News

  2014 Partner Compensation Up, But Gap Between Equity and Non-Equity Partners Is Large.      Major, Lindsey & Africa has published its 2014 Partner Compensation Survey of based upon a 4.9% response rate from 44,000 U.S. big law firm partners. It shows that average compensation for equity partners in 2014 was $716,000, up 5% from

Costs/POOF!/Family Law: Trifecta Of Appellate Decisions For 9/16/14

Cases: Costs, Cases: Family Law, Cases: POOF!

  Raceway Ford Cases, Case Nos. E054517/E056595 (4th Dist., Div. 2 Sept. 16, 2014) (published)      In this one, the defense—except for one fraud claim as to one plaintiff—waxed plaintiffs bringing various consumer and unfair competition claims. Defendants’ reward was a $1,503,084.50 fee recovery under various statutes. However, that went POOF! on appeal when several

Minors: Trial Court Had Jurisdiction To Reduce Fee Recovery In Minor’s Compromise Case To Adhere To MICRA Guidelines

Cases: Minors

  No Jurisdiction Was Lost, Appellate Court Ruled in Examining Numerous Procedural Issues.      An attorney representing a disabled minor in a minor’s compromise obtained a $395,000 mediated settlement after a positive jury verdict, with the lower court awarding $158,000 in fees (40% of the minor’s gross recovery). However, to the dismay of plaintiff’s attorney,

Private Attorney General: $102,900 CCP § 1021.5 Fee Recovery To Police Officer Union Successfully Obtaining Injunction For Compliance With Meet And Confer Requirements Of Meyers-Milias-Brown Act

Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5)

  Public Interest and Financial Burden Elements Met Based on Detailed Moving Submissions; Multiplier Request Denied.      In Indio Police Command Unit Assn. v. City of Indio, Case No. G050051 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Sept. 15, 2014) (unpublished), Presiding Justice O’Leary, the author for the assigned panel hearing the case, confronted a $102,900 fee award

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