Cases: Allocation

Anti-SLAPP Fee Award Is Affirmed; No Apportionment Necessary Because Common Legal Issues Inextricably Intertwined With Merits

Cases: Allocation, Cases: SLAPP, Cases: Standard of Review

  Fourth District, Division Two Also Awards $6,000 Appellate Attorney’s Fees Without Remanding Back to Trial Court.      Defendant won three successive anti-SLAPP motions that were affirmed on appeal. Defendant was entitled to a mandatory fee award under Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16(c). Defendant requested that the lodestar fees of $55,505 (based on a […]

Inadequate Fee Substantiation: Winner In Attorney Fee Award Fails to Rebut Substantial Opposition Showing Glitches in the Substantiation Process

Cases: Allocation, Cases: Costs, Cases: Substantiation of Reasonableness of Fees

First District, Division Two Reverses Fee Award For Further Remand Proceedings to Scrutinize Substantial Fee Award.             In our “Cases:  Fee Substantiation” category, we have reviewed past decisions showing that California has a fairly “loosey goosey” standard for substantiating the amounts claimed in attorney’s fee petition requests.  However, the next case illustrates

Borrower Prevailing On Contract Claim Entitled To Fee Award Even Though He Did Not Prevail On Noncontractual Claims

Cases: Allocation, Cases: Section 1717

Fourth District, Division One Reverses Fee Denial Based on Hsu v. Abbara.             We survey unpublished decisions because they frequently reinforce distinctions that get lost in translation because of the diffuse opinions on the “prevailing party” concept in California attorney’s fees award jurisprudence.  The next case reminds us that the “prevailing party”

Homeowner Saddled With Bearing $348,468 Adverse Fee Judgment Awarded To Unpaid Contractor Under Civil Code Section 3260

Cases: Allocation, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

First District, Division Three Affirms Large Fee Award and Adds Costs on Appeal in Favor of Contractor.             Fee shifting statutes can have disastrous consequences, shifting the risk allocation in dramatic fashion such that fees get awarded to a winning party even though they dwarf the amount at issue in the underlying

Losing Plaintiff In Casino Marker Case Suffers $400,000 Attorney’s Fees Hit For Losing The Litigation, Two Appeals, And An Appellate Writ Proceeding

Cases: Allocation, Cases: Indemnity, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees, Cases: Standard of Review

Second District Affirms Large Fee Award Based on Indemnification Clause in the Parties’ Banking Account Agreement.             In our July 12, 2008 post, we discussed what type of indemnification clauses can give rise to attorney’s fees exposure, with the upshot being that the answer depends on the specific wording of the clause

REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF POMONA AWARDED OVER $4 MILLION IN FEES IN SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE OF WRONGFUL FORECLOSURE SUIT AND IN SUCCESSFUL PROSECUTION OF FRAUD/CONTRACT CROSS-CLAIMS

Cases: Allocation, Cases: Billing Record Substantiation, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

Second District Affirms Lower Court Award, Rebuffing Apportionment, Inadequate Fee Substantiation, and Reasonableness Challenges.             Redevelopment Agency of the City of Pomona (RA) foreclosed on a $9.3 million loan made to plaintiffs for purposes of developing a retail commercial center.  Plaintiffs pursued contract and wrongful foreclosure  claims against RA, which primarily defended

POST-TRIAL ARBITRATION PROCEEDING NETS ATTORNEYS FEES FOR PREVAILING PARTIES WHO LOST AT TRIAL.

Cases: Allocation, Cases: Arbitration, Cases: War Stories

Defendants in Real Estate Concealment Case Win at Arbitration and Get Partial Recoupment of Attorneys Fees.             At a month trial in Orange County Superior Court, two individual clients of Mike Hensley suffered an adverse jury award of about $285,000.   The clients sold their prior San Juan Capistrano house to plaintiff buyers,

DISCRETION, DISCRETION, DISCRETION: TRIAL JUDGES DO NOT HAVE TO CREDIT EXPERT TESTIMONY ON THE VALUE OF ATTORNEY SERVICES IN FEE CONTESTS.

Cases: Allocation, Cases: Experts, Cases: Standard of Review

Second District Unpublished Decision Affirms Trial Judge’s Rejection of Expert Testimony on the Value of Services in Deciding an Attorney’s Fees Motion.             Even unpublished decisions can contain instructive lessons for practitioners in opposing requests for attorney’s fees, reminding us all that the trial judge is the one ultimately vested with discretion

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