Second District, Division 8 Remands In Procedural Nightmare Case. Just to show you that procedure and facts may drive a matter–stay tuned for this one. In New Star Realty, Inc. v. Park, Case No. B220602 (2d Dist., Div. 8 Nov. 18, 2010) (unpublished), defendant filed an attorney’s fees motion one day late, but […]
Fourth District, Division 2 Agrees that Sanctions Could Not Be Imposed For Amended Complaint, But Found Attorney Waived Any Error. Here is an interesting nonpublished decision in the CCP § 128.7 area. Basically, the appellate court agreed with the merits of the appellant attorney’s argument, but affirmed because he had agreed to continue
Personal Jurisdiction Quash Grounds Not Seen Different From Forum Dismissal. I guess we can wax nostalgic, but why or why not? The great thing about our blog is we report on continuing jurisprudence which, like a river, continues on and on each day. In our first post going back to May 11, 2008,
Settlement Agreement Fees Clause Was Broad, Making Blickman Inapt. The breadth of a fees clause will often determine whether Civil Code section 1717 reciprocity principles apply. For example, very narrow clauses were found not to give rise to reciprocity in Blickman Turkus, L.P. v. MF Downtown Sunnyvalle, LLC, 162 Cal.App.4th 858 (2008) and Real
$14,283.85 in Expert Fees Affirmed Even Though The Defense Made Modest 998 Offers. In Patel v. Delbecq, Case No. H034417 (6th Dist. Nov. 15, 2010) (unpublished), the defense finally won a jury trial in a case where they never hit plaintiffs’ car but allegedly drove dangerously enough to cause a tire blowout in a
Fifth District So Holds Even After County of Santa Clara v. Superior Court. Earlier this year, in County of Santa Clara v. Superior Court (2010) 50 Cal.4th 35 (reviewed in our July 27, 2010 post), the California Supreme Court narrowed the holding of its prior Clancy decision to permit contingency fee agreements in
New York Times So Reports in November 14, 2010 Article–$1 Billion May Be At Issue. In a November 14, 2010 article by Binyamin Appelbaum in The New York Times, he reports on the fact that large banks, hedge funds, and private investors are bankrolling plaintiffs’ lawsuits at record rates, all in the hope
Second District, Division 1 Finds Waiver, in a 2-1 Decision. The next one is an interesting case which demonstrates that an appellate court may strike down an arbitration award where one side litigated in court for a long period of time and engaged in non-arbitration types of discovery. Waiver was the issue for consideration,
Division 4 Follows Moore v. Kaufman. In our October 24, 2010 post, we examined Moore v. Kaufman, 2010 Cal.App. LEXIS 1813, a Second District, Division 1 decision where a SLAPP fee award against losing plaintiff’s counsel was overturned. The basis was that Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16(c) did not allow for such an
Yesterday, we posted the first five questions on an ABA Lawyer Happiness Quiz on what it takes to make a happy lawyer. Here are questions 6-10, and the answers. 6. Lawyers in what age range report the highest level of job satisfaction? (A) Lawyers under 30 (B) Lawyers 31 to 40 (C)
