City Won Less Than 4% Of Pled Damages Against Guarantor And Only 22% Of Past Due Amounts Claimed At Trial, Garnering $100,152 In Fees Under Guaranty Fees Clause. City of Dinuba v. Thusu, Case No. F073781 (5th Dist. Feb. 20, 2018) (unpublished) demonstrates how deferential the “prevailing party” status determination can be under Civil […]
Gotta Look At The Big Picture, Appellate Court Reminds Us On Prevailing Party Status. Marina Pacifica Homeowners Assn. v. Southern California Financial Corp., Case No. B276719 (2d Dist., Div. 8 Feb. 5, 2018) (published) was hard fought litigation over the validity and timing of an assignment/transfer fee. In the end, the trial court—after bifurcating
Guardian Ad Litem Is Not Technically A Party To An Action. In Albrecht v. Pearson, Case No. B281720 (2d Dist., Div. 1 Jan. 30, 2018) (unpublished), a person appointed as an elder’s guardian ad litem lost a restraining order and was ordered to pay attorney’s fees and costs under Welfare and Institutions Code section
Analogy To California Homeowner ‘s Bill Of Rights Fee-Shifting Scheme Unavailing On Appeal. In Artus v. Gramercy Towers Condominium Assn., Case No. A147297 (1st Dist., Div. 1 Jan. 24, 2018) (published), plaintiff homeowner sued HOA claiming it illegally failed to enforce cumulative voting standards under governing documents. The trial court granted homeowner a preliminary
Fees Were Reasonable, Plaintiffs Were Successful, And No Apportionment Required. Neighbors, which happens more frequently than one might suppose, got into a dispute over a negative easement involving an excavation ban within 10 feet of the base of certain trees along their shared property, with the dispute based upon a settlement agreement in Biggs
Prevailing Alter Ego Defendant Entitled To Fee Recovery, Despite Fact That Plaintiff Prevailed Against LLP Defendant. What happened in Burkhalter Kessler Clement & George LLP v. Hamilton, Case No. G054337 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Jan. 8, 2018) (published) is that plaintiff prevailed in a sublease dispute against an LLP defendant but did not prevail
Individual Defendants Did Not Gain Their Main Litigation Objective, Given No Adjudication Of Alter Egos Issues Too Boot. In Fedco Construction, Inc. v. International Fidelity Ins. Co., Case Nos. A146999/A148407 (1st Dist., Div. 5 Dec. 19, 2017) (unpublished), alter ego defendants (Individual Defendants) for developers were dismissed on a directed verdict after alter ego
Trial Court Had Discretion In Making Prevailing Party Determination, And Did Not Abuse It. Unless you get an outright victory under Civil Code section 1717, the trial judge has discretion to determine if a party prevailed for purposes of fee recovery. The trial judge determined that, although plaintiff did get affirmative recovery, the plaintiff
Award Was Predicated On A Victory Over All Claims, But Fee Awards Have To Await A Final Resolution. A reversal of a merits judgment usually means an ensuing fee award also falls for the time being. This result occurs because a prevailing party determination under Civil Code section 1717 must await a final resolution
Homeowners Association—Anaheim Hills Planned Community Assn. v. Chen, Case No. G053128 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Nov. 9, 2017) (Unpublished). In this first one, homeowner appealed a trial court’s award of appellate fees to HOA in a CC&R dispute under both a prior settlement agreement and the Davis-Stirling Act. The appellate fee award of $36,830.50
