Second District, Division 6 Finds No Unreasonableness in Trial Court Awards. “Scorched earth” is a frequently bandied phrase in litigation. However, if a trial court believes that you as a litigant have engaged in it, this strategy may cost you big when it comes time for reckoning fee/cost recovery to the prevailing party after […]
Decision May Have Implications for Application of CCP § 998 in Diversity Cases. An important decision for federal diversity cases came out yesterday from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, pitting F.R.Civ.P. 68 against a state pre-trial settlement scheme in Arizona. In Goldberg v. Pacific Indemnity Co., Case No. 09-16243 (9th Cir. Dec.
Internet Video of Encounter Got A Lot of Exposure. According to a December 4, 2010 post by John Ellis on the website of The Fresno Bee, the City of Fresno has agreed to pay $75,000 to Glen Beaty, a homeless man, in a federal civil rights lawsuit predicated on a punching by a
In-House Counsel Look for Efficiencies and Alternative Billing Arrangements. In the December 2010 edition of California Lawyer, there are some interesting articles about legal budgets for U.S. corporations. Looks like, in 2009, law department spending dropped for the first time in nearly a decade, by 1% according to a survey of 252 U.S. companies
Terris/County of Santa Barbara. As reported in a December 1, 2010 post on the website version of The Santa Barbara Independent, Shawn Terris, a former Santa Barbara County employee, lost her wrongful termination lawsuit against the County and retired CEO Mike Brown. Now, Ms. Terris has been ordered to pay $33,325 to the County
Second District, Division Reverses Trial Court’s Decision to Not Entertain Fee Request on the Merits. In C-1 Construction v. Choi, Case No. B217012 (2d Dist., Div. 5 Dec. 3, 2010) (unpublished), C-1 obtain a compensatory award from defendants based on claims it was not allowed to finish certain construction work agreed to under an
Reconsideration Warranted Because This Was Bulk of Damages Award. Our POOF! principle–that the reversal of a merits judgment often times results in reversal of a fees award–resurrected itself in the next case. In Greenwich S.F., LLC v. Wong, Case Nos. A123670/A124882 (1st Dist., Div. 2 Dec. 2, 2010) (certified for publication), plaintiffs were
Fourth District, Division One Affirms Trial Court’s “Wash” Decision on Issues. The next case involves a melange of fee and costs issues arising from a contract and civil rights case in which plaintiff recovered nothing on her claims but beat school district’s contract cross-claim. That gave rise to all sort of prevailing party claims
$60,000 Fee Award Goes POOF! After High Court Decision. In Los Angeles County v. Humphries, Case No. 09-350 (U.S. Nov. 30, 2010), the United States Supreme Court decided that the Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 694 (1978) “policy or custom” requirement applied to civil rights cases
Court of Appeal Reminds Us That Abuse of Discretion Includes Not Exercising Discretion. Well, here is a lengthy unpublished family law decision (72 pages) which we will try to summarize succinctly. In essence, husband’s appeals on family law fee awards did not gain traction, while wife did better on her appeal of a failure
