Cases: Arbitration

Arbitration/POOF!: Postjudgment Arbitration Confirmation Attorney’s Fees Award Goes Away When Appellate Court Found Arbitration Was Not The Proper Controversy Forum

Cases: Arbitration, Cases: POOF!

  Parties Have To Go Back To Court, Says Appellate Court.     In Ahern v. Asset Management Consultants Inc., Case Nos. B253974/B257684 (2d Dist., Div. 7 Aug. 11, 2015) (unpublished), defendants successfully moved to compel arbitration against plaintiffs based on the theory they were bound by an arbitration clause in a real estate purchase/sale agreement […]

Arbitration, Retainer Agreements: Tips For Successful Enforcement Of Arbitration Clauses In Fee Retainers

Cases: Arbitration, Cases: Retainer Agreements

  Tips Are Broad in Nature, But Also Guide California Practice.      We can tell you that Randy Evans and Shari Klevens of McKenna Long have provided some guidance to U.S. lawyers seeking to enforce fee retainer arbitration provisions in their recent Daily Report article entitled “Arbitration Provisions in Fee Agreements.”      Here are the

Arbitration: Beware Creation Of Fee Entitlement Basis In AAA Commercial Arbitration Proceedings

Cases: Arbitration

  Rule 43(d)(ii) Is The Trap.      American Arbitration Association’s (“AAA”) Commercial Arbitration Rule 43(d)(ii) provides: “The award of the arbitrator may include: … (ii) an award of attorneys’ fees if all parties have requested such an award or it is authorized by law or their arbitration agreement.”(Emphasis added.)      Paul R. Wood and Thomas

Appealability/Arbitration/Prevailing Party: Defendants/Winning Parties Entitled To Renew Court Action Fee Request After Voluntarily Dismissal Of Court Action Occurred Following Denial Of Provisional Relief And Submission Of Arbitration Hearing

Cases: Appealability, Cases: Arbitration, Cases: Prevailing Party

  Denial Of Fees Would Ignore Realities of “Dual Track” Arbitration/Court Realities Of Modern Litigation.      Mesa Shopping Center-East, LLC v. O Hill, Case No. G049205 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Dec. 23, 2014) (published) is an interesting case involving the propriety of Civil Code section 1717 court fees where there is a “dual track” case,

Arbitration/Fee Clause Interpretation: Superior Court Award Of Attorney’s Fees To Arbitration Party Successfully Defending Arbitrator Disqualification Order Affirmed On Appeal

Cases: Arbitration, Cases: Fee Clause Interpretation

  $55,698 Fee Award Justified Based On Broad Fees Clause in Operating Agreement.      Fiscal Funding Co., Inc. v. Dones, Case No. A135451 (1st Dist., Div. 3 Dec. 15, 2014) (unpublished) involved a $55,698 fee award by the superior court to a party to an arbitration successfully defending an arbitrator’s disqualification order in superior court

Arbitration/Section 1717: Arbitrator Who Applies Statutory Definition of “Prevailing Party” To Award Fees Rather Than Contractual Definition Does Not Exceed His Powers

Cases: Arbitration, Cases: Section 1717

Court Does Not Decide Whether Contractual Provision Limiting Arbitrator’s Power To Apply Definition Of “Prevailing Party” Other Than Found In Agreement Would Be Unenforceable As Violative Of Public Policy.      Does an arbitrator who applies the statutory definition of “prevailing party” found in Civil Code Section 1717(b)(1), rather than than the definition the parties contractually

Arbitration: Policy Against Certain Fee Splitting Arrangements Does Not Justify Judicial Review Of Arbitration Award Enforcing Oral Fee Splitting Arrangement

Cases: Arbitration

Arbitrator Did Not Exceed His Powers By Enforcing Oral Fee Splitting Arrangement       Attorneys Cohen and Sheinkopf had an oral agreement to split client fees:  75% to Cohen, 25% to Sheinkopf.  After the two attorneys went their separate ways, they arbitrated a fee dispute in which the arbitrator enforced their oral fee splitting agreement, resulting

Arbitration: Judgment Confirming Revised Final Award Allowing Fee Recovery, Where Initial Final Award Denied Fees, Reversed On Appeal

Cases: Arbitration

  Arbitrator Did Exceed Powers in Correcting Awards on a Merits Issue, Especially Where JAMS Rule Did Not Allow For Reconsideration/Revisions of a Final Award.      Cooper v. Lavely & Singer Professional Corp., Case No. B251508 (2d Dist., Div. 4 Sept. 26, 2014) (published) is an important decision on correction and revisions of initial “final”

Arbitration/Prevailing Party: Losing Party Never Seeking To Compel Arbitration Had To Bear Big Fee Recovery In Litigation Case Against Prevailing Party

Cases: Arbitration, Cases: Prevailing Party

  $308,383.72 Fee Recovery Affirmed On Appeal.      In Ito v. Ito, Case No. A136513 (1st Dist., Div. 3 Sept. 24, 2014) (unpublished), one party, in an LLC dissolution case, received $461,958 plus title to 3 properties, while second party received $20,092 plus title to one property in litigation with fee-shifting clauses in LLC operating

Arbitration/Prevailing Party: Earlier Appellate Court Reversal Of Judgment Confirming Arbitration Award Because Party Should Have Not Been Subject To Arbitration Meant No Fee Recovery

Cases: Arbitration, Cases: Prevailing Party

  Successful Party in Arbitration, Suffering Setback on Appeal, Was Not a Prevailing Party.      In Guerra v. Aurora Loan Services, LLC, Case No. H038813 (6th Dist. Sept. 19, 2014) (unpublished), a lower court denied a successful arbitration litigant his fees in connection with an equally successful petition to confirm the arbitration award. The trial

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