Reversal Meant $94,072.50 Fee Award Evaporated. Here is one showing that appellate courts will try to do equity depending on the facts of a particular dispute. (And, by making this comment, we in no way mean they ignore the law—quite to the contrary, as we have seen in numerous posts.) Unfortunately, for plaintiff and […]
However, Equitable Receipt of Fee Principle Used to Allow Reasonable Fee Before Freezing of Client’s Assets. This next case is an important, sobering one for any civil practitioners defending clients charged with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act violations, counseling that there is a duty of inquiry with respect to attorneys’ acceptance of retainers so
USDJ Chooses Lodestar in Wage/Hour Class Action Fee Recovery Settlement. Our friend and fellow blogger H. Scott Leviant has reported on Anderson v. Nextel Retail Stores in his June 30, 2010 post at The Complex Litigator website. There, U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson, in a common fund wage/hour class action settlement, chose the
Adversarial Beneficiary Losing the Fight May Be Held Responsible for Winner’s Attorney’s Fees. Family feuds can be bitter, as the next case demonstrates. They also can result in being saddled with attorney’s fees depending how the trial court rules, given that some equitable doctrines like the common fund doctrine are very broad and
Goodman Forecast to Curtain Attorney’s Fees In a March 15, 2010 article “Curtailing Attorneys’ Fees” by Harry I. Price (a Los Altos real estate attorney) published in The Recorder, Mr. Price predicts that Goodman v. Lozano—a recent California Supreme Court decision examined in our February 5, 2010 post—“will change how litigants sift and
Plaintiff Sought $415,458.75 In Fees, But Trial Court Reductions and Apportionments Lowered Actual Award to $95,267.41. In partition actions, Code of Civil Procedure section 874.010(a) authorizes an award of costs to include reasonable attorney’s fees that have been “incurred or paid by a party for the common benefit.” When you get into this area
Fourth District, Division 3 Uses Equitable Maxims in Reaching Result. Our favorite line in the decision we next review is this: “Since delay defeats equity, we will hold our applause.” Above: Cartoon showing blinded “Justice” trying to drag the “Letter of the Law” through obstacles of “delay, postponement, re-trial, and technicality”. 1912.
Third District Find That Common Fund/Substantial Benefit Doctrines Were Inapplicable. Under the equitable “common fund” or “substantial benefit” doctrines, a shareholder who successfully pursues a derivative action that establishes a common fund or a substantial benefit to the corporation may look to the corporation to reimburse the shareholder for the costs
Second District Reverses Awarding Almost $100,000 To One Partner’s Attorney Where Action At Issue Did Not Involve a Fee Award Against Other Partners. In a rather complicated set of facts, certain partners sued other partners in an oral partnership involving a property and business. Plaintiffs won their oral partnership claims, with
SECOND DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL DISCUSSES TRIAL COURT’S DISCRETION TO REDUCE CIVIL CODE SECTION 1717 CONTRACTUAL FEE AWARD WHERE WINNING LITIGANT INCREASED UNNECESSARY FEES BY ITS LITIGATION CONDUCT. The Second District Court of Appeal, in a 2-1 opinion with an extensive dissent by Presiding Justice Cooper, has penned a very interesting
