Cases: Prevailing Party

Prevailing Party, Special Fee Shifting Statute: Third District, In Writ Proceeding, Determines California Public Records Act Plaintiffs Prevailed, Reversing Determination Otherwise By Lower Court

Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

Petitioners Did Prevail Because Their Actions Motivated A Water District To Disclose Previously Withheld Records.             Writ relief does not happen often, but plaintiffs seeing that the lower court was against them sought it and were awarded by the Third District in Harrell & Gifford v. Superior Court (Hornbrook Community Services Dist.), Case Nos. C085484/C085606 […]

Allocation, Prevailing Party, Reasonableness Of Fees, Section 1717: $371,135 Fee Award To Prevailing Tenant Affirmed Where Breach Of Contract Jury Verdict Was Only $84,595

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

Tenant Also Entitled To Costs And Appellate Fees For Winning On Appeal.             Strength Farm, LLC v. The Heron Family Trust, Case No. B285264 (2d Dist., Div. 8 July 25, 2018) (unpublished) illustrates that contractual fee recoveries do not have to proportionate to the compensatory breach of contract award (may even be more if tort

Prevailing Party: Defendants Fighting Back Plaintiff’s Service Lien Claim, But Only Garnering $5,787.81 Out Of Sought-After Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars In A Cross-Complaint, Properly Denied Attorney’s Fees Request

Cases: Prevailing Party

Trial and Appellate Courts Found Neither Side Was A Prevailing Party, With Defense Request For $147,932.50 In Fees Denied.             Whenever a trial judge decides, in a post-trial fee hearing, that the result was a “tie” (or close thereto) as far as whether a fee claimant was a prevailing party in a lawsuit with mixed

Estoppel, Prevailing Party, Section 1717: Trial Court’s Conclusion That It Lacked Jurisdiction To Entertain Motion To Enforce Settlement Means That Neither Side Could Be Prevailing Party

Cases: Estoppel, Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Section 1717

Motion Was Not On The Contract, Opposing Side Was Not Estopped From Denying Fee Exposure, And Prevailing Party Determination Was Premature In Nature.             The Fourth District, Division 1, in Howeth v. Coffelt, Case No. D072543 (4th Dist., Div. 1 June 18, 2018) (unpublished) (Howeth II), had to deal with one side’s appeal of an

Prevailing Party: Defendant Buyer Beating Lack Plaintiff Seller’s Unenforceability Argument Under Seller’s Complaint And Obtaining Specific Performance Relief On Buyer’s Cross-Complaint Was Entitled To Contractual Fees As Prevailing Party

Cases: Prevailing Party

Almost $90,000 In Fees Was Final “Reward” For Prevailing Buyer.             In Elie v. Kallie, Case No. B272360 (2d Dist., Div. 5 June 12, 2018) (unpublished), plaintiff seller lost in an effort to invalidate a sale agreement as unenforceable and also lost on defendant buyer’s cross-complaint seeking specific performance. In the end, defendant buyer obtained

Prevailing Party, Section 1717: Trial Judge’s Failure To Determine If Defendant Was Prevailing Party Under Civil Code Section 1717 Was Reversed And Remanded For A Determination

Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Section 1717

Finding That Neither Side Prevailed For Routine Costs Did Not Decide Section 1717 Prevailing Party Issue.             In AAWestwood, LLC v. Liberal Arts 677 Benevolent Foundation, Case No. B275717 (2d Dist., Div. 5 May 23, 2018) (unpublished), defendant won non-monetary relief under its cross-complaint while plaintiff lost some claims but won a net $3,809.52 in

Prevailing Party/Section 1717:  Litigants With No Unqualified Clear Win Or Loss Were Properly Denied Attorney’s Fees

Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Section 1717

Trial Court’s Discretionary Decision Of No Prevailing Party Affirmed On Appeal.             Under Civil Code section 1717, a trial judge has wide discretion to deny attorney’s fees where there are no clear, unqualified winning litigants such that the results are “mixed.”  Even where a party is ostensibly the prevailing party, the trial judge can still

Landlord/Tenant/Prevailing Party:  Fees Award To Plaintiff Where Both Parties Gained Some Relief Reversed Because Trial Court Erroneously Applied Wrong Standard

Cases: Landlord/Tenant, Cases: Prevailing Party

Lower Court Used CCP § 1032, Rather Than Civil Code § 1717, For Purposes Of Determining The Prevailing Party.             8121 Van Nuys Associates, Inc. v. Hoffman, Case No. B276900 (2d Dist., Div. 4 March 21, 2018) (unpublished) involved a landlord/tenant case where both parties won some relief.  Landlord won past rent/damages, while tenant won

Fee Clause Interpretation/Prevailing Party:  Fifth District Reverses Costs Denial, Remands For Redo On Fee Clause Interpretation, And Reverses 128.7 Sanctions Award

Cases: Fee Clause Interpretation, Cases: Prevailing Party

Appellate Court Did De Novo Review On Most Issues.             In a fairly lengthy decision, the Fifth District basically reversed trial court determinations on fees and costs issues in Johnson v. Johnson, Case No. F073191 (5th Dist. Feb. 26, 2018) (unpublished), involving a dispute between siblings arising out of their real estate partnership where the

Costs/Prevailing Party: Parsons Was Prevailing Party In Qui Tam Action So As To Be Entitled To Routine And Expert Witness Costs Awardable Against MTA

Cases: Costs, Cases: Prevailing Party

Prior Settlement Agreement Between Parties Did Not Preclude Later Costs Award.             In L.A. County MTA v. Parsons-Dillingham Metro Rail, Case No. B265863 (2d Dist., Div. 7 Feb. 26, 2018) (unpublished), Parsons was the prevailing party under a false claims count in a qui tam action.  Earlier, Parsons and MTA had reached a settlement agreement

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