Cases: Equity

Appealability/Equity: Reversal Of Judgment Against 66 Plaintiffs, 61 Of Which Appealed, Meant Fee Award Against All Gets Reversed

Cases: Appealability, Cases: Equity

  Otherwise, 5 Nonappealing Parties Would Get Stuck With Substantial Fee Exposure Even Though Some Appealing Parties Might Win On Remand.      Appellate courts are comprised of justices, who not only follow the law but attempt to reach a fair result based on the circumstances. Adams v. MHC Colony Park Ltd. Partnership, Case No. F062160 […]

Equity: Attorney’s Fees Award Remanded For Another Looks Because Entered Judgment Based On Stipulated Default Arrangement May Have Been An Unlawful Penalty

Cases: Equity

  As Far As Awarding Fees, Orange County Default Fee Schedule Suggested in Remand Look If Entered Judgment Significantly Reduced In the “Redo”.      The Fourth District, Division 3 has published several decisions in the unlawful penalty area involving leases with certain penalties and judgment stipulations having an increased penal amount feature over/above any agreed-upon

Equity/Fee Clause Interpretation/Section 1717: Prevailing Plaintiffs In LLC Dissolution Dispute Entitled To Fee Recovery Under Broadly Worded LLC Operating Agreement Fee Clause

Cases: Equity, Cases: Fee Clause Interpretation, Cases: Section 1717

  Pre-Appraisal Participation in Litigating Issues Meant Corp. Code Section 17351(b) Did Not Trump Broadly Worded Fees Clause.      Kashian v. Simonian, Case No. F064325 (5th Dist. Aug. 28, 2013) (unpublished) was a business litigation war between two founding member sides of an LLC. Plaintiffs filed for fiduciary duty breach, declaratory relief, and LLC judicial

Damages/Deadlines/Equity/Prevailing Parties: Dueling Prevailing Parties Remain That Way After Appeal

Cases: Deadlines, Cases: Equity, Cases: Fees as Damages, Cases: Prevailing Party

  Remand to Determine if Offseting is Appropriate; Each Note Claim Judged on its Own.      Williams v. Meyer, Case No. B243491 (2d Dist., Div. 6 June 4, 2013) (unpublished) involved a debtor plaintiff/cross-defendant and creditor defendant/cross-complainant having dueling claims on two notes delivered in favor of defendant and secured by plaintiff’s house (with fees

Equity: Lower Court Did Not Err In Equitably Allocating Partition Fees/Costs 50-50 Where One Side Got A Total In Kind Partition And Other Parties Did Not

Cases: Equity

  Allocation Doesn’t Necessarily Have to be Proportional in Nature.      Cason v. Cason, Case No. D059676 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Apr. 22, 2013) (unpublished) deals with allocation of attorney’s fees and costs in a partition case. The germane statute, CCP § 874.040, has a double-barrel measure–the lower court shall apportion partition costs among the

Equity: Attorney Providing Affidavit Of Fault For Vacation Of Default Judgment Rightly Assessed With $12,000 Fee Order In Plaintiff’s Favor

Cases: Equity

       Plaintiff obtained an approximate $72,000 default judgment against defendants represented by an attorney who submitted an affidavit of fault to get the judgment vacated (the attorney was suspended from the practice of law). The trial court found the default had to be vacated on a mandatory basis under CCP § 473, but ordered

Equity/Section 1717/Poof!: Fifth District Finds “Buried, One-Sided” Escrow Agreement Fees Clause Was Unconscionable As To Losing Putative Class Action Plaintiff On Government Code Excessive Notary Fee Claim

Cases: Equity, Cases: POOF!, Cases: Section 1717

  $266,801 Fee Award to Defense Went POOF!      The defense in Hutton v. Fidelity National Title Co., Case Nos. F063318/F063922 (5th Dist. Jan. 31, 2013) (partially published; fee discussion unpublished) must have been feeling pretty good in this one. It had won a summary judgment against a plaintiff suing it on behalf of a

Class Actions/Equity/Referral Agreements: Attorney May Be Equitably Estopped From Enforcing Fee-Sharing Agreement Violations Where Attorney Prevented Other Participating Attorneys From Compliance With Fee-Sharing Requirements

Cases: Class Actions, Cases: Equity, Cases: Referral Agreements

  Equity Can Play a Role In These Disputes, Rules Fourth District, Division 3.      Barnes, Crosby, Fitzgerald & Zeman, LLP v. Ringler, Case No. G045872 (4th Dist., Div. 2 Dec. 19, 2012) (published) goes to show you that equity does interplay with ethical fee-sharing restrictions.      Here, the Fourth District, Division 3, in a

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