Cases: POOF! – Page 16 – Cal Attorneys Fees

Requests For Admissions: $177,030.76 Cost of Proof Sanctions Goes POOF! When Court Of Appeal Finds That Only One Out Of 7 RFAs Was Material

October 15, 2010

Matter Remanded To Decide Sanctions for One Germane RFA. Appellate courts do scrutinize costs of proof sanctions under Code of Civil Procedure section 2033.420 carefully, as the next case demonstrates. The trial court in Windward Capital Management Co. v. Christenson, Case No. B210898 (2d Dist., Div. 2 Oct. 13, 2010) (unpublished) imposed costs […]

Civil Rights And Poof!: $329,208.35 Fee Award Evaporates Because Plaintiff Did Not Timely Plead A Section 1983 Claim

October 9, 2010

Second District, Division 2 Strikes Fee Award. Here is a reminder that fee entitlement is a key liminal concern for review of any attorney’s fees award. The failure to plead a claim allowing for fee recovery can and often will be fatal to the ability to recoup substantial attorney’s fees. The next case is

Civil Rights: Disabled Plaintiff In ADA Suit Gets Chance To Seek More Attorney’s Fees

Cases: Civil Rights, Cases: POOF!

September 23, 2010

Ninth Circuit Remands $136,537.83 Fee Award After Reversing and Granting Plaintiff More Relief. Here is a reverse POOF! Plaintiff in Antoninetti v. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., Case Nos. 08-55867 et al. (9th Cir. July 26, 2010, amended Sept. 22, 2010) (for publication) won one claim in an American with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Probate and POOF!: $13.364 Million Fee Award Against Trustee Under Probate Code Section 17211(b) Evaporates

Cases: POOF!, Cases: Probate

September 23, 2010

Second District, Division 3 Finds Trustee Had Reasonable Cause to Contest Beneficiary Claims. In our category “Probate,” we previously have examined Probate Code section 17211(b), which allows attorney’s fees to be awarded to a beneficiary contesting a trustee’s account if the lower court determines that the trustee’s opposition was made without “reasonable cause”

POOF And How!: $14,150,000 In Fee Awards Go POOF! Based Upon Prior Reversal And Remand

Cases: POOF!

September 9, 2010

Case Pitted Two Large Los Angeles County Law Firms Against Each Other. Holy Cow, Batman! Here is a wow POOF!—showing how substantial fee awards will evaporate upon a reversal of a judgment. The case of Cussler v. Crusader Entertainment, LLC, Case Nos. B215815/B220761 (2d Dist., Div. 3 Sept. 8, 2010) (unpublished)

Federal POOF!: Ninth Circuit Determines Plaintiff Should Have Been Granted Summary Judgment, Reversing Substantial Fee Award To Defense

Cases: POOF!

September 4, 2010

$2.4 Million Fee Award Goes Away. It is not often that we have a federal POOF! to share with you. However, here is a recent one. In F.B.T. Productions, LLC v. Aftermath Records, Case Nos. 09-55817/09-5069 (9th Cir. Sept. 3, 2010) (for publication), plaintiff sued under contracts to recover a percentage of royalties

Equity And POOF!: Appellate Court Reverses CCP § 473 Relief For Late Filing Of Attorney’s Fees Motion

Cases: Equity, Cases: POOF!

August 29, 2010

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

POOF!: Fee Awards On Both Sides Went Away With Reversal of Rescissionary Judgment

Cases: POOF!

August 18, 2010

Fourth District, Division 2 So Rules in Unpublished Opinion. Reversal on appeal can have dire consequences, not to mention that fee awards can become moot. That is what happened in H & H Investments Co., Inc. v. Chang, Case Nos. E046900/E047471 (4th Dist., Div. 2 Aug. 17, 2010) (unpublished). Fortuna. Albrecht

Special Fee-Shifting Statutes: Ninth Circuit Reverses Attorney’s Fees Awards in Echostar/NDS Case

Cases: POOF!, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

August 15, 2010

Reversal is a $22 Million Swing for the Corporate Litigants. In our December 11, 2008 post, we reported on C.D. Cal. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter’s fee awards in EchoStar Satellite Corp. v. NDS Group PLC, Case No. 8:03-cv-00950-DOC-JTL. There, EchoStar was awarded $12,972,547.91 in fees and NDS was awarded $8,968,118.90 in fees

Poof! On Appeal, Employer Is No Longer the Prevailing Party, and Award of $23,532.50 in Fees and Costs is Vacated

Cases: Employment, Cases: POOF!

July 30, 2010

Second District, Division One Holds that a Tameny Claim Exists When Subsequent Employer Honors Putatively Invalid Restraint on Competition Entered Into Between Employee and Previous Employer – and Reversal of Attorney’s Fee Award Follows. A Tameny claim is a claim for wrongful termination in violation of public policy, under Tameny v. Atlantic Richfield Co.,