Mike, Shanna, and Marc’s Top Twenty-Two Fee Decisions for 2025– Part 1 of 2. As is our tradition during the Holidays, we post on the top twenty-two fees/costs decisions from 2025, keeping in mind that this is a subjective ranking and does not take away from other published decisions of interest to litigants, practitioners, and
Circumstances Did Not Fall Into “Legally Dispositive Facts” Vacatur Principle. In VIP Mortgage Incorporated v. Gates, No. 24-7624 (9th Cir. Dec. 22, 2025) (published), a vacatur request was denied where an arbitration award granted attorney’s fees and costs to a plaintiff on the defense’s counterclaims even though the parties had stipulated that fees and costs
Prevailing Party Voluntarily Lowered Its Fee Request Down From $142,842. Prevailing landlord was given a second chance when the lower court observed that billing substantiation was severely redacted and post-judgment work had been included in 2503 Haste Street Owner, LLC v. FanX, Inc., Case No A170902 (1st Dist., Div. 5 Dec. 19, 2025) (unpublished). What
Prior Opinions In Plaintiffs’ Favor Had No Precedential Value. In Make UC A Good Neighbor et al. v. Regents of University of California, Case No. A172510 (1st Dist., Div. 5 Dec. 19, 2025) (published), the appellate court affirmed that plaintiffs were not “successful” parties for private attorney general purposes despite winning favorable appellate precedents at
Plaintiff Argued That The Fees Disclosure Invaded The Attorney-Client Privilege, An Argument Rejected At Both The Trial And Appellate Levels. In what we consider to be a very pragmatically reasoned decision, Johnson v. Rubylin, Inc., Case No. H053076 (6th Dist. Dec. 19, 2025) (published) decided that the attorney-client privilege does not support a disability plaintiff
Work On The Motion Was Excessive. After a case was voluntarily dismissed, a defendant brought a SLAPP fee motion and requested $38,317.50 in mandatory fees as the prevailing party (inclusive of a 1.5 positive multiplier) in Kim v. Woocher, Case No. B337918 (Dec. 18, 2025) (unpublished). The lower court only granted $5,000 in fees based
Total Exposure For Orange County Approximates About $4.5 Million Former Orange County prosecutor Tracy Miller sued Orange County and certain DA defendants in a sexual harassment/retaliation case which went to trial in San Diego County Superior Court, resulting in a $3 million jury verdict. Recently, the trial judge decided that Plaintiff also was entitled to
Prematurity Arguments Were Rebuffed. In Barbanell v. Lodge, Case No. D084193 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Dec. 17, 2025) (unpublished), the parties entered into a settlement agreement to resolve a longstanding water rights dispute, with the settlement agreement having an attorney’s fees clause allowing a prevailing party in a lawsuit arising out of the settlement to
Concurring Justice Suggests That Discovery Might Be Appropriate For Scrutiny Of Employer’s Failure To Timely Pay. Howard v. Koulax Enterprises, Case No. B335329 (2d Dist., Div. 5 Dec. 16, 2025) (unpublished) is yet another appellate decision remanding a case to the lower court after an employer litigant failed to timely pay arbitration expenses, with the
Remand Was To Determine If Employer Had An Excuse For Untimely Payment And Whether Employee Suffered Compensable Harm. Our local Santa Ana appellate court, in Pontes v. Intelliloan, Inc., Case No.. G064585 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Dec. 16, 2025) (unpublished), has joined an emerging majority of appellate courts in remanding, post-Hohenshelt v. Superior, 18 Cal.5th
