City is Out $700,000 in Fees When No Reimbursement Allowed. As reported by Eric Paul Zamora in a June 17, 2013 post at the FresnoBee.com, City of Fresno’s request for reimbursement of over $700,000 in attorney’s fees has been rebuffed. The request was made in litigation by which it won minor changes to […]
CCP § 685.040 Was Dispositive. County of Alameda v. Ottovich, Case No. A133891 (1st Dist., Div. 3 June 17, 2013) (unpublished) is a reminder that postjudgment enforcement fee recoveries have to meet the requirements of CCP § 685.040, with the simple recitations in a judgment not providing the necessary predicate for fee entitlement.
Judgment Debtors’ Additional Fees Were a “Self-Inflicted Wound,” So To Speak. Pacific Western Bank v. Prospect Village LP, Case Nos. G045790 et al. (4th Dist., Div. 3 June 17, 2013) (unpublished), authored on behalf of a 3-0 panel by Justice Moore, is categorized under our estoppel category, although it is also a “self-inflicted
Santisas Was Dispositive. This case was not a hard one for the appellate court to decide. A cross-complainant did a formal dismissal without prejudice of a cross-complaint, which inspired the lower court to deny a fee recovery request by the opposite side. The appellate court, upon appeal of the fee denial in Flanagan
Top 350 Firms’ 2012 Growth Down From 1.7% Growth in 2011. As reported by Debra Cassens Weiss in her June 11, 2013 post in The ABA Journal, the National Law Journal reports that the top 250 U.S. law firms grew on the whole 1.1% in 2012, down from 1.7% growth in 2011.
Fee Recovery of Less than 10% of Request Affirmed on Appeal. Byrne v. Peninsula Heating & Appliance, Inc., Case No. A134664 (1st Dist., Div. 5 June 12, 2013) (unpublished) is one of those classic appeals involving a challenge to the amount of fees, which is governed by an abuse of discretion reviewing standard.
J.R. Marketing Now Published. In our May 20, 2013 post, we discussed J.R.Marketing, LLC v. Hartford Cas. Ins., a May 17, 2013 unpublished decision finding that a Cumis-breaching carrier could not sue to recoup fees paid already to independent counsel. We can now report that this decision was certified for publication on June
Defendant Recovered Less on Cross-Complaint Contractual Claim, So Plaintiffs Prevailed. Julius Castle Restaurant, Inc. v. Payne, Case Nos. A130955 (1st Dist., Div. 1 June 10, 2013) (partially published; fee discussion not published) may be one of the first published cases discussing post-Riverisland factors for the courts and juries to consider after the overruling
As reported in an updated June 12, 2013 post by The Salt Lake Tribune, Penn State’s legal bills relating to the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal have really piled up, reaching $45.8 million as of the end of March 2013–if consulting work/related expenses are factored in. Crowd at Navy, Penn State Football game. 1922.
Trial Courts Possess Discretion to Control Any Gamesmanship in 998 Process. The California Supreme Court has spoken on the issue of recovery of expert witness costs where plaintiff has presented two unaccepted pretrial settlement offers under Code of Civil Procedure section 998, neither of which is beat by the balking offeree. In
