Cases: Prevailing Party

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Party.             8121 Van Nuys Associates, Inc. v. Hoffman, Case No. B276900 (2d Dist., Div. 4 March 21, 2018) (unpublished) involved a landlord/tenant case where both parties won some relief.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 Feb. 26, 2018) (unpublished), involving a dispute between siblings arising out of their real estate partnership where the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             In L.A. County MTA v. Parsons-Dillingham Metro Rail, Case No. B265863 (2d Dist., Div. 7 Feb. 26, 2018) (unpublished), Parsons was the prevailing party under a false claims count in a qui tam action.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

Prevailing Party:  Trial Judge’s Decision That City Prevailed For Fee Purposes Was Sustained On Appeal

Cases: Prevailing Party

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

Homeowner Associations/Prevailing Party:  Mixed Results In Transfer Fee Litigation Means No One Obtained Fees Or Costs

Cases: Homeowner Associations, Cases: Prevailing Party

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

Prevailing Party:  Elder Abuse Guardian Ad Litem Was Not “Party” Subject To Welfare And Institutions Code Fee-Shifting Statute

Cases: Prevailing Party

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

Homeowner Associations/Prevailing Party:  Homeowner’s Interim Preliminary Injunction Success, Although Ultimately Losing On The Merits, Did Not Make Her Prevailing Party Under Davis-Stirling Fee-Shifting Provision

Cases: Homeowner Associations, Cases: Prevailing Party

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

Allocation, Prevailing Party, Reasonableness Of Fees:  $32,133.50 Fee Award Arising Out Of Plaintiff’s $5,159.77 Easement Dispute Victory Affirmed On Appeal

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

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 Party/Section 1717:  There Can Be Dual “Prevailing Parties” In Contractual Dispute.

Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Section 1717

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

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