Trial Court Reduced Fee Request By $31,000. In our category “SLAPP,” we have reviewed many decision awarding mandatory attorney’s fees to defendants prevailing in SLAPP proceedings. (Code Civ. Proc., § 425.16(c).) Here is one where substantial fees were awarded, even though substantial fees were reduced from the requested amount. Winning defendants in […]
Second District, Division 2 Rejects Suggestion Trial Court Cannot Award 998 Costs. This next one really involves a power challenge—can a trial court award postarbitration costs to a winning arbitration party based on a rejected Code of Civil Procedure section 998 offer? You betcha, ruled the appellate court in the next case we
Fourth District, Division 3 Reverses and Remands, But Does Allow Consideration of How Fee-Driven Motivation Impacts Reasonableness of Fee Request. In the civil rights area, the American Disabilities Act (ADA) does have a mandatory fee-shifting provision in favor of prevailing plaintiffs, although it has the important caveat that only reasonable fees should be awarded.
Follows on the Heels of Sanctions by Georgia Federal Judge. In our October 19, 2009 post, we reported on a Georgia federal judge’s imposition of sanctions on local Orange County attorney Orly Taitz in a “birther” lawsuit challenging President Obama’s ineligibility for the presidency. Now, we can report that U.S. District Judge David
Inoperability of CCP Section 128.6 Does Not Impact Defendants’ Ability to Award Fee Recovery Under POBR’s Fee-Shifting Provision. California’s Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights (POBR) (Gov. Code sec. 3300 et seq.), which has certain safeguards for police persons, does provide for an award of attorney’s fees against a party who brings a
Fourth District, Division 2 So Holds in Unpublished Decision. In Marriage of Weatherup, Case No. E045519 (4th Dist., Div. 2 Oct. 29, 2009) (unpublished), the Court of Appeal affirmed a $90,000 attorney’s fees award in favor of wife and against husband, broken down as $35,000 in Family Code section 271 sanctions and $55,000
Second District, Division 3 Address Many, Many Procedural Issues in Unpublished Opinion. In Matusek v. Benn, Case No. B206776 (2d Dist., Div. 3 Oct. 29, 2009) (unpublished), two sets of defendants (the Murad and Benn defendants, each set composed of businesses and their principals) contracted to create an infomercial using an appearance by plaintiff
In our October 25, 2009 post, we reported on the award of routine costs in favor of the school district and teachers’ union in the Farnan-Corbett lawsuit. An early November 2009 fees motion is still pending with respect to these two entities. As reported in The Orange County Register (see Scott Martindale’s
Second District, Division 4 Finds No Basis To Award Fees To A True Nonparty. We do get email feedback from readers, for which we thank you. Sometimes we can be of help, sometimes we can’t, but we do usually respond one way or the other. One reader wanted some posts on void judgments.
Fifth District So Decides In Unpublished Decision of Interest to All Litigators. In a refrain used by us and other bloggers, we do stress there are some decisions that are must reading for certain practitioners. Well, the next one is—for all attorneys notifying the trial court about a conditional or unconditional settlement. It
