Cases: Prevailing Party

Prevailing Party/Section 1717/Substantiation Of Fees/Apportionment/Reasonableness Of Fees: People Of The State Of California Get $2.944 Million Fee Recovery In Tobacco Cases I Affirmed On Appeal

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

     Cigarette ad, Times Square.  Feb. 1943.  John Vachon, photographer.  LOC.      Although this case has quite a storied history, In re Tobacco Cases I, Case Nos. D061077/D061676 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Apr. 26, 2013) (unpublished) looks like it may be finally finished, thanks to this decision.      What happened is this, in brief. People,

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

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