Author name: Marc Alexander

Attorney’s Fees Award To Wife Reversed Because Trial Judge May Have Erred About Relevant Time Period And May Have Skewed The Financial Circumstances of The Parties Based On Child Support Miscalculations

Cases: Family Law

Even Under Abuse of Discretion Standard, Family Fee Awards Must Be Based on Consideration of Proper Set of Facts.      We have frequently discussed how deferential the abuse of discretion standard is in most fee awards, which is the governing standard for awarding attorney’s fees in marital proceedings.  (In re Marriage of Cheriton, 92 Cal.App.4th […]

Fee Clause Interpretation: Use of “Subject To” Rather Than “Incorporation” Language in Sub-Sublease Can Have Dramatic Implications In Recovery of Attorney’s Fees By A Prevailing Landlord

Cases: Fee Clause Interpretation

Fourth District, Division Three Reverses A Fee Award Based on Lack of “Incorporation” Verbiage in Sub-Sublease.      The next case shows that use of the words “subject to” rather than “incorporation” language may impede an award of attorney’s fees to a winning party in a sublease dispute context.      In Head and Neck Associates v.

Discovery Sanctions Orders Against Counsel Reversed Because Notices Of Sanctions Motions Were Not Sufficiently Certain In Identifying The Objects Of The Sanctions Requests

Cases: Discovery, Cases: Sanctions

Second District, Division Five Reverses Discovery Sanctions Imposed Against Client and Its Law Firm.      The next case is a good reminder that discovery sanctions motions need to be explicit in mentioning the persons against whom the sanctions are directed in the actual motion. Failure to be precise in this context may mean that an

Orange County Ordered To Pay $1.6 Million In Attorney’s Fees To Winning Civil Rights Plaintiff In High Profile Case Against Orange County Social Services

Cases: Civil Rights

Judge Bauer Awards Fees After $4.9 Million Jury Verdict and Issuance of Permanent Injunction.      Plaintiff Deanna Hardwick-Fogarty brought a civil rights action against Orange County Social Services and several of its social workers.  (Fogarty-Hardwick v. County of Orange, Orange County Super. Ct. Case No. 01CC02379, filed in 2001).  The suit arose from plaintiff’s allegations

Proofread Your Work: Submission of Subpar Written Papers Or Sloppy Work Product Can Lead To A Reduction In Fees

Cases: Civil Rights, Cases: Lodestar, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees, Cases: Substantiation of Reasonableness of Fees

Transylvania Feral Court Slashes Attorney’s Fees Award Drastically For Spoor Work Product.      Although we usually confine our posts to California-oriented cases, settlements, or fee issues, the following fee reduction ruling by a Philadelphia-based federal district judge was too good to pass up and also offers some sobering lessons to practitioners seeking fee awards when

Two Winning Civil Rights Plaintiffs’ $421,357 Fee Award Affirmed On Appeal

Cases: Civil Rights, Cases: Lodestar, Cases: Standard of Review

Court of Appeal Sustains $336,800 Lodestar Plus 0.25 Multiplier.      Two high school freshmen sued the Poway School District, a principal, and an assistant principal, alleging various federal and state civil rights violations arising out of failure to quell peer sexual orientation harassment of an anti-gay nature.  Following a jury trial, the two plaintiffs were

Sixth District Remands Matter To Trial Court For Purposes of Determining If Petitioner Was Entitled To Attorney’s Fees Award Under CCP Section 1021.5

Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5)

Case Transferred Back to Appellate Court Based on Amendment Was Remanded Back to Lower Court for Crucial Determinations on Fee Entitlement.      In Travis v. County of Santa Cruz, Case No. H029771 (6th Dist. Oct. 9, 2008) (unpublished), a petitioner had spent years challenging Santa Cruz County's occupancy and rent restrictions imposed by the former

Scroll to Top