Cases: Prevailing Party

Prevailing Party/Section 1717: Voluntarily Dismissing Plaintiff May Still Be Exposed To Attorney’s Fees Under Santisas On Remand

Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Section 1717

  Fee Denial Reversed and Remanded.      Santisas v. Goodin, 17 Cal.4th 599 (1998) is one of our Leading Cases. It held that a voluntary dismissal of a case will bar Civil Code section 1717 contractually-based fee claim recovery, but not recovery under other claims. Instead, a broadly phrased fees clause may afford a contractual […]

Arbitration/Construction/Prevailing Party: $901,085.27 Fee Recovery Goes POOF! When Appellate Court Determines That Defendant Was Dismissed After Arbitration With Other Parties

Cases: Arbitration, Cases: Construction, Cases: Prevailing Party

  Defendant Was Neither a Party to the Property Owner-HOA Settlement Nor Resulting Arbitration.      Owner hired contractor to convert a hotel it owned into apartments and retail space. A few years later, the apartments were converted to condos and sold to the public, with an HOA being formed. Owner had to disclose certain construction

Prevailing Party: Eighth Circuit Affirms District Judge’s “No Prevailing Party” Determination When Each Side In A Beverage Dispute Won Damages On Their Respective Claims

Cases: Prevailing Party

  Implied Covenant Counterclaim Found to be “a Term” Under Contract for Fee Clause Purposes.      Two beverage bottling companies won something on their dueling claims: plaintiff won $861,000 on a contract claim while counterclaimant won $183,000 on an implied covenant counterclaim. However, as we have frequently blogged about, the attorney’s fees contest is often

Deadlines/Prevailing Party On Appeal: More Specific Pre-Final Judgment Time Deadlines Prevail Over 40-Day Remittitur Rule

Cases: Deadlines, Cases: Prevailing Party

Deadlines/Prevailing Party On Appeal: More Specific Pre-Final Judgment Time Deadlines Prevail Over 40-Day Remittitur Rule      Horak v. South Shores Development Corp., Case No. B238973 (2d Dist., Div. 2 Apr. 2, 2013) (unpublished) is a second-time appellate scrutiny for one plaintiff who obtained a partial appellate reversal in a mobilehome tenancy dispute. Eventually, she lost

Costs/Landlord-Tenant/Prevailing Party: Tenants In Dismissed Rescission Action Did Win Routine Costs, But Correctly Denied Attorney’s Fees

Cases: Costs, Cases: Landlord/Tenant, Cases: Prevailing Party

       Ron Sheng, Inc. v. Li, Case No. B239682 (2d Dist., Div. 7 Feb. 19, 2013) (unpublished) is a wild landlord-tenant dispute where landlord settled with tenants and tenants won a $200,760 fee award pursuant to an arbitration which was eventually sustained on appeal. However, landlord brought a rescission action claiming that the settlement

Allocation/Prevailing Party: Defendant Prevailing In One Action Granted Fees, But Not Fees Incurred In Prior Declaratory Relief Action

Cases: Allocation, Cases: Prevailing Party

       Our local appellate court in Sampson v. The Richardson Group, Case No. G046234 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Jan. 30, 2013) (unpublished) (3-0; author: A.P.J. Rylaarsdam) affirmed a determination that a contractor on a county construction project prevailed against subcontractor when judgment was entered against subcontractor, even though that party obtained some partial success

Prevailing Party/Section 1717: $52,661 Contractual Fee Award To Defendant/Cross-Complainant Reversed Because No Side “Prevailed”

Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Section 1717

  Plaintiff Received Minimal Security Deposit Award/Defendant Received One-Tenth Of Request–Result: No Unqualified Win.      During this month of December 2012, we have seen a “swell” in intermediate appellate cases deciding whether a party prevailed for purposes of recovering fees under Civil Code section 1717 (applicable to contractual fee clauses). Here is another one to

Equity/Prevailing Party: Trial Court’s Failure To Specify Fee Entitlement Basis Required Remand Of Fee Award

Cases: Equity, Cases: Prevailing Party

  Not Clear If Fee Award Based on Partition Claim or Not.      In a tenant-in-common apartment building dispute (complete with a partition claim), a plaintiff appealed a lower court determination that defendants were entitled to fees of $6,087, arguing there was no clear identification of the statutory basis for the fee award.      That

Prevailing Party: Trial Court Did Not Err In Finding Neither Party Prevailed In HOA Driveway Characterization/Slander Of Title Dispute

Cases: Homeowner Associations, Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Standard of Review

       In Mankowski v La Cumbre Owners Assn., Inc., Case No. B236025 (2d Dist., Div. 6 Nov. 13, 2012) (unpublished), plaintiff townhouse owner was apparently really mad that the trial court found no one prevailed in her slander of title/declaratory relief action over the characterization of a driveway after her sister contributed to her

POOF!/Prevailing Party: Partial Reversal Of Result In Landscape Easement Agreement Dispute Means $146,000 Fees/Costs Award Goes POOF!

Cases: POOF!, Cases: Prevailing Party

  On Remand, Reversal Might Mean that No One Prevailed or Even Other Side Prevailed.      Where one side prevails across the board and obtains a fees/costs award, reversal on an important issue will usually overturn the entire award because the prevailing party determination might be different–either no side prevailed or even the original loser

Scroll to Top