Entire Contract Must Be Considered in Fashioning Fee Award. Acting Presiding Justice O’Leary, from our local Fourth District, Division 3, has penned a 3-0 decision that reminds us of the statutory breadth of Civil Code section 1717, the fee shifting provision applicable to contractual fee clauses. The case is Ghods v. Citicorp Vendor Finance, […]
Third District Finds No Remedy Available Against Other Attorney and Applies Litigation Privilege in Sustaining Defense Judgment. In a decision just recently certified for publication, the Third District affirmed a defense judgment in a case involving a dispute between two attorneys over the division of fees in a personal injury action that settled. The
City of Irvine Dropped Its Simultaneous Challenges in Return for District’s Promise to Create a Traffic Plan Study. As reported by Elysse James in the December 27, 2010 online edition of The Orange County Register, the Irvine Unified School District has agreed to pay about $175,000 in legal fees to Responsible Land Use
Hourly Market Rate Analysis Frequently Involves Use Of the Laffey Matrix, Although Some Courts Do Not Like It. When one is petitioning for fees or contesting a petition for fees, it is usually incumbent to utilize the lodestar approach by determining the prevailing hourly market attorney rates in the relevant community (most often,
Two Plaintiff Attorneys Awarded Damages of $20,400 Each. As reported by Julia Cheever of Bay City News in the online version of SFAppeal on December 21, 2010, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker of the Northern District of California earlier had awarded two plaintiffs affiliated with an Islamic charity foundation (who happened to be attorneys)
County Spends $128,712 In Defense of Lawsuit, Which Was Decided Against It By a Jury. As reported by Teri Sforza in the December 21, 2010 edition of The Orange County Register, Orange County suffered an adverse jury verdict of $259,400 in an excessive force case brought by Toy White when sheriff deputies tried to
$15,000 Sewer Line Repair Dispute Ends Up Well for Homeowner. If you have followed our blog at all, you will know that many decisions echo our Mission Statement, which is borrowed from Retired Justice Wallin’s oft-quoted remark that attorney’s fees are “the tail that wags the litigation dog”–a quote from Deane, an HOA decision.
Level of Culpability and Prejudice Are Still Key Factors Driving Sanctions Awards. Just as we are giving you our top 20 attorney’s fees decisional redux for 2010, Williams Mullen, a 300-attorney firm with offices in Virginia, North Carolina, D.C. and London, has posted a December 17, 2010 Alert that provides a nice summary of
Ex-Wife Client Did Not Authorize the Filing of the Motion. The Sixth District just decided an interesting family law matter that involved interpretation of In re Marriage of Borson, 37 Cal.App.3d 632 (1974) and the case law spawned in this specific niche of family law. It affirmed a lower court’s denial of a Borson
Fiduciary Duty Breaches Do Not Necessarily Preclude Fee Recovery Altogether. The Fourth District, Division 1 reinforces that attorney’s fees awards in probate matters are governed by statute but guided by equitable considerations. In Kunit v. Kingston, Case No. D056103 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Dec. 23, 2010) (unpublished), trustee was removed after having been
