Cases: Prevailing Party

Section 1717, Allocation, Civil Rights Cost Recovery, Prevailing Party, And Section 998: Court Of Appeal Faces A Melange Of Fee/Costs Issues

Cases: Allocation, Cases: Civil Rights, Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Section 1717, Cases: Section 998

Fourth District, Division One Affirms Trial Court’s “Wash” Decision on Issues.      The next case involves a melange of fee and costs issues arising from a contract and civil rights case in which plaintiff recovered nothing on her claims but beat school district’s contract cross-claim. That gave rise to all sort of prevailing party claims […]

Prevailing Party And Costs: Voluntary Dismissal Of Prior Action Did Not Give Rise To Fees, But Did Give Rise To Costs, When There Was On-Going Litigation Between Parties

Cases: Costs, Cases: Prevailing Party

Second District, Division Four Reversed Costs Denial, Affirmed Fees Denial.      The next case shows that courts pragmatically gauge prevailing party status when in comes to fees and costs awards—costs may be mandatory upon a voluntary dismissal, but not necessarily an award of attorney’s fees in the same circumstance (with the fees award being the

Prevailing Party: Orange County Lawyer Article Discusses Middle Ground To English And American Rules On Fee Shifting

Cases: Insurance, Cases: Prevailing Party

  After the Event or Legal Expense Insurance Is the Middle Ground Discussed.     Kevin Martin, founder and CEO of Sonoma Risk Insurance Agency, has written an interesting article, aptly entitled “Leveling the Playing Field in Contract Disputes,” in the August 2010 edition of The Orange County Lawyer.      In some statistics directly relevant to

Prevailing Party Determination: Litigants And Courts Need To Focus On Each Claim and Each Claim Result To Determine Who Prevailed

Cases: Prevailing Party

Second District, Division 1 Affirms CCP § 1032 Fee Determination, But Reverses and Remands For Civil Code § 1717 Recovery Calculation.      As we have discussed under our category “Prevailing Party,” the determination of prevailing party focuses on the results reached on each distinctive claim by each distinct litigant, with different statutes governing the distinct

Section 1717: Where Results Are Mixed …. Lots Of Prevailing Party Discretion

Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Section 1717, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

Fourth District, Division 3 Emphatically Makes the Point.      Roden v. Amerisourcebergen Corp., Case No. G041990 (4th Dist., Div. 3 July 8, 2010) (certified for publication) involved a plaintiff who was disappointed in being denied an award of attorney’s fees under a supplemental executive retirement plan (with ERISA implications) after prevailing on some aspects of

Section 1717: Litigants Receiving Only Nominal Damages On Cross-Complaint Did Not Prevail, With The Other Side Receiving $250,000 In Fees As The Winner.

Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Section 1717

     If one side does not win a clear victory in a case (such as nominal damages), the lower court can certainly award fees to the other side where it beat major exposure on claims involving a fee-shifting clause. That is exactly what happened in the next case we explore.      In Core Wealth Mgt.,

Section 1717 And Fees Clause Interpretation: Fee Denials Against Apartment Seller And Escrow Company Reversed And Remanded For Reconsideration

Cases: Fee Clause Interpretation, Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Section 1717

  Second District, Division 7 Finds Reversal of Prejudgment Interest Issue Requires Reexamination of Prevailing Party Determination and the Escrow Instructions Fee Clauses Were Sufficiently Broad for Fee Entitlement Purposes      In Marina Glencoe, L.P. v. Malibu Escrow Corp., Case No. B203415 (2d Dist., Div. 7 Mar. 1, 2010) (unpublished), an apartment building purchaser recovered

Jurisdiction To Award Fees And Prevailing Party Status: Borrower Substantially Reducing Loan Exposure Through Usury Defense Awarded Fees Of $43,960

Cases: Deadlines, Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Section 1717

Trial Court Had Jurisdiction to Award Fees While Merits Appeal Pending and Borrower Was the Prevailing Party.      Borrower on a loan, even after an initial appeal, reduced a loan balance to only $3,602.72 after an offset for usurious interest. The lower court refused to award costs to lender and also awarded $43,960 to borrower

Prevailing Party: California Supreme Court Decides Goodman v. Lozano

Cases: Prevailing Party

  Plaintiff Cannot Recover Fees From Nonsettling Litigants Where Offsets From Settling Litigants Result in a Zero Judgment.       The California Supreme Court, in a much anticipated decision, has decided an important “prevailing party” issue in Goodman v. Lozano, Case S162655 (Cal. Supreme Ct. Feb. 4, 2010) (published).       Our state supreme court

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