Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5)

Private Attorney General Statute: The Great Park Search For CEO Document Disclosure Requires Award Of Fees To Minority Directors

Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5)

Fourth District, Division Three Reverses Trial Court Denial of Fees Under CCP Section 1021.5 in Orange County Superior Court Action.      “The Great Park”—the plan to develop the former El Toro Marine property into a park—has drawn widespread publicity given charges that Larry Agran and other Irvine City Council members have dominated the Orange County […]

Private Attorney General Statute: Third District Affirms Denial Of Attorney’s Fees To Attorneys Winning Prior Gang Injunction Due Process Challenge

Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5)

Court of Appeal Denies Fees in a Splintered Unpublished Opinion.      We would like to thank attorney Amitai Schwartz, who practices in Emeryville, for alerting us to an interesting unpublished decision from the Third District that concerned an appeal of denial of attorney’s fees under Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.5. This cause actually resulted

Private Attorney General Statute: $239,620 Fee Award Affirmed In Favor Of Nonprofit Group/Pala Band For Successful CEQA Challenges To Proposition C

Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5)

Fourth District, Division 1 Rejects Public Interest and Significant Benefit Challenges to Fee Award.      Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.5 (California’s private attorney general statute) allows a litigant to obtain attorney’s fees where the requesting party shows that the litigation (1) served to vindicate an important public right, (2) conferred a significant benefit on

Attorney’s Fee Awards And Fee Requests In The News … Redwood City Gets Tagged, E*TRADE Financial Will Seek Large Fees, and Bluetooth Class Action Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Seeks Fees Drawing Numerous Objections

Cases: Class Actions, Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5), Off Topics

Redwood City Assessed About $260,000 Under Private Attorney General Statute.      Redwood City lost a CEQA challenge by local attorney Joe Carcione (son of Joe Carcione, the Green Grocer) who sued arguing that the EIR was inadequate for the “Downtown Precise Plan,” a plan with a vision for up to 2,500 new high-rise housing units

Private Attorney General Statute: Trial Court Properly Awarded Plaintiffs $336,350 In Fees Rather Than Requested $1.49 Million (And Correctly Denied 2.0 Multiplier)

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

First District, Division 5 Determines Trial Court Properly Applied Serrano III Factors.      Even under fee-shifting, public interest statutes, our California Supreme Court in Serrano v. Priest, 20 Cal.3d 255, 49 (1977) (Serrano III) mandated that multiple factors be used to increase or decrease a lodestar figure requested by victorious litigants. In the next case

Private Attorney General Statute: Lodestar Fee Award Affirmed, But Multiplier Determination Remanded For Further Consideration

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

First District, Division 1 Suggests Trial Courts Should Explain Multiplier Determinations With Some Specificity.       For all of you attorneys practicing in areas that may trigger application of the private attorney general statute (Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.5), the next case will be of great interest. Not only does it highlight some discrepancies in

Class Actions: Plaintiff’s Amicus Curiae Work In Related Action Was Proper Basis For Additional Fee Award

Cases: Class Actions, Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5), Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

Sixth District Also Finds No Abuse In Fee Award In Previous Action Under Private Attorney General Statute.      The next case involves the extent to which successful attorneys in a plaintiff’s class action should be awarded fees for amicus curiae work in another action that dealt with the same issues and eventually led to a

Attorney’s Fees In the News … Citizens Reap Public Interest Award, While Homeowner May Have To Pay FEHA Department Fees

Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5), Cases: SLAPP, Off Topics

Citizens Group Awarded Over $175,000 in Fees For Successful Attack of Santa Barbara Proposed Housing Project.      Citizens Planning Association (CPA) were awarded over $175,000 in attorney’s fees ($117,228 lodestar, based on four attorneys charging $350 an hour, plus a $60,000 multiplier add-on) for successfully attacking the City of Santa Barbara’s environmental analysis of the

Private Attorney General Statute: CEQA Petitioner Denied Fee Award Because Cost Of Litigation Did Not Transcend Personal Stake In Litigation

Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5)

Second District, Division 6 Upholds Fee Denial Under CCP Section 1021.5.      Under our category “Private Attorney General Statute,” we have examined the requirements—more stringent than one might assume—for awarding prevailing litigants attorney’s fees under California’s private attorney general statute (Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.5). There are many elements to satisfy, including establishment that

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