Winning Plaintiff on Trespass Claim Entitled to More Fees On Appeal. Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.9 has existed since 1986 and allows a prevailing plaintiff to recover reasonable attorney’s fees and costs for prevailing in an action to recover personal or real property damages from a trespass upon lands either under cultivation or […]
Third District Gives Direct Collateral Estoppel Impact to Prior Ruling in Convoluted Real Estate Option Dispute. Here is an interesting decision where the fee ruling in a prior SLAPP proceeding was given direct estoppel effect in a subsequent action. This is how it panned out. South Sutter, LLC v. LJ Sutter Partners
Not Necessarily . . . . As The Third District Informs Us in the Next Decision. We would likely tell you that a common legal urban myth is that one always needs to pay some costs and fees as a condition of obtaining default relief under the mandatory “attorney falls on the sword”
$185,674.22 Fee Award and $12,829 Costs Award Sustained on Appeal. Chino Municipal Code section 12.02.030 provides that any applicant (usually a telecommunications company obtaining an encroachment permit) failing to restore city or private property to the like or better condition after any encroachment damages “shall be liable for all costs to restore same
Don’t Ignore Civil Code § 1708.6(c) . . . . But It Is Discretionary In Nature. Here is a nice fee entitlement statute in the domestic violence tort area (bet a lot of you did not know there was such a statutory tort). Civil Code section 1708.6(c) expressly provides that the court in
Result … 998 Offer Was Enforceable. Gardenias v. Candreva, Case No. B223556 (2d Dist., Div. 6 Mar. 14, 2011) (unpublished) reminds us all that Code of Civil Procedure section 998 offers are guided by contract principles, especially in the area of acceptance and revocation. In this one, defendant accepted a $15,000 § 998
If Trial Court Determines Common Facts Overlap Compensable and Noncompensable Claims for Fee Recovery, Usually Treated as Discretionary Exercise Upon Appellate Review. In Conservatorship of McQueen (Taye v. Drumgoole), Case No. A126825 (1st Dist., Div. 4 Mar. 14, 2011) (unpublished), family attorney and other defendants were found liable for financial elder abuse, concealment, conversion,
Genital Herpes Case With Costs Ruling Certified for Publication. In our March 2, 2011 post, we discussed Behr v. Redmond, Case No. E04833 (4th Dist., Div. 2 March 2, 2011), a genital herpes case in which a costs award for expert witness fees was reversed because no CCP § 998 offer was proven
Ex-Wife Not Give Proper Due Process Opportunity to Oppose. We knew this one was a reversal from the first few sentences–“Summary proceedings are common in family law cases. Nevertheless, however certain a court may be that a party or an attorney in a family law proceeding deserves sanctions, it must keep in mind
SLAPP Defendant/Appellant Gets Smacked With Attorney’s Fees Twice Our next case, City of Alhambra v. D’Ausilio, B220136 (2nd Dist. Div. 2 3/8/11) (unpublished), pitted Burke, Williams & Sorensen, and its client, the City of Alhambra, against The Petersen Law Firm, and its client, Robert D’Ausilio. This lawsuit between Mr. D’Ausilio, a former employee
