Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5)

Private Attorney General Statute: Prior Decision On Trial Court Discretion On Deposition Reporter Fees Did Not Result In A Public Benefit

Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5)

  Second District, Division 3 Affirms Denial of Fees in Split Decision.      In Serrano v. Stefan Merli Plastering Co., Inc., 162 Cal.App.4th 1014 (2008) (Serrano I), the Second District, Division 3 decided that a trial court in a pending action does have authority to require a deposition reporter to provide a copy of a […]

Private Attorney General Statute: $68,480 Award—Half That Requested—Against Contra Costa County Affirmed On Appeal

Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5)

First District, Division 3 Rejects Both Procedural and Substantive Attacks to Fee Award.      Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.5 is California’s private attorney general statute, allowing fee shifting in certain public interest cases. You can learn more by accessing our “Private Attorney General Statute” category on the left hand side of our home page.

Private Attorney General Statute: City Aligned With Class Action Plaintiffs In Defending Settlement On Appeal Was Not An “Opposing Party” For Purposes of CCP § 1021.5 Award

Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5)

Fourth District, Division 1 Publishes Opinion on Unique Issue and Decides Equitable Principles Cannot Justify Fee Recovery.      Although one might chalk up this next one to an appellate court having fiscal savvy for the plights of cash-strapped governmental entities, we digest it so you make your own opinion on the result.      McGuigan v.

Private Attorney General Statute: Although Litigant Got Some Relief, Financial Burden Factor Was Not Satisfied

Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5)

Lower Court Can Evaluate Factor Under Traditional Analysis, Not Having to Use More Nuanced L.A. Police Protective League Test—Especially Where Nuanced Test Not Raised Below.      This next one goes to show you that waiver can be a bitter bill to swallow—make sure you raise potential winning back-up arguments before the trial court or risk

Private Attorney General Fee Award: $423,975 Award In First Impression Case Of Difficulty Affirmed

Cases: Lodestar, Cases: Multipliers, Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5)

  First District, Division 1 Rejects State’s Challenges to Amount of Fee Award.      In an earlier appeal, certain plaintiffs successfully enjoined enforcement of certain legislation allowing for incarceration for drug-related probations violations because such a sanction was inconsistent with Proposition 36 (the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of 2000). Plaintiffs also successfully defended

Marc And Mike’s Top Twenty Decisions For 2009

Cases: Bankruptcy Efforts, Cases: Consumer Statutes, Cases: Family Law, Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5), Cases: Probate, Cases: Sanctions, Cases: SLAPP, Cases: Social Security, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

Part 1 of 2: First Ten Grouping—Nos. 11-20.      As noted in an earlier post, we have accumulated our “top 20” attorney’s fees decisions, recognizing that we limit the list to published decisions and that the order reflects nothing about the importance of the decision. Rather, we try to survey decisions of interest in different

In The News . . . . DMV Has To Pay $69,400 In Attorney’s Fees To Non-Profit Organization in Medical Pot Users License Revocation Suit

Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5), In The News

     Sometime during the week of December 14, 2009, Merced County Superior Court Judge Brian L. McCabe ruled that the California Department of Motor Vehicles had to pay $69,400 in attorney’s fees to Americans for Safe Access, a non-profit group, in a lawsuit against the DMV for a policy of unjustly revoking derivers’ licenses of

Private Attorney General Statute: $50,300.34 Fee Award To Individual Affirmed On Appeal

Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5)

Concessions of Defendant and Plaintiff’s Financial Impact Declaration Cinch the Award.      The next case illustrates how a litigant’s own concessions on public interest and a plaintiff’s declaration about financial impact play important roles in establishing the elements necessary to justify a fee award under Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.5 (California’s private attorney general

Private Attorney General Statute: Moreno Valley Adjacent Property Owner Obtains $131,810.89 In Attorney’s Fees Against Appealing Developer in CEQA Case

Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5)

  Fourth District, Division 2 Finds CCP Section 1021.5 Requirements Were Satisfied.      Under our category “Private Attorney General Statute,” we have explored the requirements for an award of attorney’s fees under Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.5. (After all, in a return to basics, the “American Rule” does allow a prevailing party to obtain

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