Cases: Estoppel

Civil Code Section 1717: Litigants’ Failure To Be Adjudged General Partners, Although Winning A Small Quantum Meruit Award, Justified Non-prevailing Party Conclusion

Cases: Allocation, Cases: Estoppel, Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees, Cases: Section 1717

Result Was An Adverse Fee/Cost Award of Over $275,000      In Gupta v. Shue, Case No. B198449 (Apr. 30, 2009) (unpublished), both sides engaged in bitter, protracted litigation over whether each received, by assignment, a general partnership interest in a real estate limited partnership—with the limited partnership caught in the middle of the litigation. After […]

Civil Code Section 1717: Prevailing Nonparty to Settlement Agreement With Fees Clause Could Not Be Awarded Fees Where Enforcement Action Did Not Focus On Settlement Agreement

Cases: Estoppel, Cases: Section 1717

Fourth District, Division 3 Finds Section 1717 Cannot Be “Bootstrapped” Into Fee Entitlement For Breach of Contract With No Fees Provision.      Civil Code section 1717 focuses on mutuality of remedy for enforcement of contractual attorney’s fees clauses. However, it is not a statutory dragnet to enforce an oral settlement with no fees clause or

Estoppel And Fee Clause Interpretation: Losing Broker Using MLS Was Not Liable To Winning Seller For Fees Just Because Broker Pled Fee Recovery And When Fees Clause Did Not Encompass Losing Broker

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

First District, Division Five Follows Blickman Turkus and Sessions Decisions.      This next case is a virtual paradigm for students of fees clauses in exclusive listing agreements involving MLS brokers who sue sellers and then lose. It deals with judicial estoppel and fee clause interpretation issues frequently seen in these types of disputes.      Menasco

Arbitration: AAA Arbitrator Can Award Fees to Prevailing Party, Even Without Contractual Basis, If Both Parties Request Fees in Their AAA Pleadings

Cases: Arbitration, Cases: Estoppel

Fourth District, Division 1 Affirms Fee Award Granted By Arbitrator Under AAA Rule R-44(d).      In our category “Cases: Estoppel,” we have reviewed cases holding that Civil Code section 1717 fee recovery is not authorized in regular court actions unless the litigant has actual entitlement to fees, with no award being justified when an opponent

Mandatory Fee Arbitration Settlement: Winning Party Reserved Right To Recover Fees and Did Obtain $120,000 In Fees And $7,097.99 In Costs From Losing Attorney

Cases: Arbitration, Cases: Estoppel, Cases: Retainer Agreements, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes, Cases: Standard of Review

First District, Division Four Affirms Fee/Costs Award on Appeal.      In our category “Cases: Settlement,” we have reviewed past decisions where parties have won substantial fee/costs awards after reserving the issue for future determination as part of a settlement in an underlying case. The next opinion is one arising from the settlement of a lawsuit

Independent Claims Adjustor Obtains Affirmance of Fee Award Under Contract With Insurance Carrier

Cases: Estoppel, Cases: Section 1717

Fourth District, Division One Rejects Judicial Estoppel Argument and Awards Fees on Appeal (to be Determined by the Trial Court).      Who says that everyone in the insurance industry is cozy-cozy with each other? Not a foregone conclusion at all, especially when assertions of claims mishandling may cast aspersions on the reputation of the claims

Attorney Lien: Former Clients Estopped To Challenge Judgment Resulting From Motion Proceeding Where They Stipulated To The Motion Procedure

Cases: Estoppel, Cases: Liens for Attorney Fees

Fourth District, Division Three So Holds in Unpublished Decision.             The general rule is that an attorney claiming an attorney lien over settlement proceeds or a judgment must file an independent action to establish the existence and amount of the lien, with any order granting attorney’s fees in the main action being

Nonsignatory Defendants Denied Attorney’s Fees Award Where They Would Not Have Been Entitled to Recovery Had They Won

Cases: Estoppel, Cases: Section 1717

Fifth District, in an Unpublished Opinion, Rejects Reasoning From Both Abdallah and International Billing Services in Affirming Lower Court Fee Denial.              In our four months of blogging, we have covered both published and unpublished California appellate decisions.  We have found that the unpublished decisions are still valuable for their analysis, although

Second District, Division Eight Follows Leach Rule On Judicial Estoppel In Section 1717 Situations

Cases: Estoppel, Cases: Section 1717

Division Eight Refuses to Follow Manier’s “Allegations Alone Suffice” Estoppel Theory.             In a wild case involving contentions of contract formation, untimely acceptance, and a critically forged document, the Second District, Division Eight affirmed a trial court’s equitable rulings but modified a judgment to delete an attorney’s fees award against a nonsignatory

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