Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

Allocation/Reasonableness Of Fees:  Guarantors Obtaining Assignment Of Lender Rights Correctly Hit With About $400,000 In Attorney’s Fees Under Operative Fee Clause  

Cases: Allocation, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

  Apportionment And Excessive Fee Challenges Did Not Prevail On Appeal.             In Thompson v. T.D. Service Co., Case No. A148281 (1st Dist., Div. 5 Jan. 31, 2018) (unpublished), a trustee under a deed of trust made a mistaken full credit bid at an initial nonjudicial foreclosure sale even though the mistake was corrected in […]

Allocation, Prevailing Party, Reasonableness Of Fees:  $32,133.50 Fee Award Arising Out Of Plaintiff’s $5,159.77 Easement Dispute Victory Affirmed On Appeal

Cases: Allocation, Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

Fees Were Reasonable, Plaintiffs Were Successful, And No Apportionment Required.             Neighbors, which happens more frequently than one might suppose, got into a dispute over a negative easement involving an excavation ban within 10 feet of the base of certain trees along their shared property, with the dispute based upon a settlement agreement in Biggs

Civil Rights, Lodestar, Multiplier, Reasonableness Of Fees:  Trial Judge Properly Cut Lodestar By 25%, And Applied A 1.5 Positive Multiplier, For Total Fee Award Of $752,925.92 In Case Garnering Compensatory Damages Of $625,000 To Plaintiff

Cases: Civil Rights, Cases: Lodestar, Cases: Multipliers, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

Trial Judge Also Properly Awarded $15,000 Supplemental Fees For Posttrial Work.             For those of you not practicing in the employment/FEHA area, civil rights plaintiffs in disability/harassment/failure to accommodate cases are entitled to recovery of attorney’s fees under a pro-plaintiff statutory fee-shifting provision to be construed liberally to allow plaintiff full compensation for prevailing in

Reasonableness Of Fees:  Trial Court’s Award Of $10,000 To Prevailing Party In Lease Dispute Affirmed Even Though $150,000 Lodestar Was Requested By Prevailing Party

Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

Questionable Billing Practices, Amount At Stake, And Relative Success Of Both Parties Justified Awarding Less Than 10% Of Fee Request.             Tenant won a utility cap lease dispute with landlord in a case involving both a complaint and cross-claims, with the trial judge eventually awarding tenant $27,919.11 who also lost on other claims.  Tenant requested

Lodestar/Reasonableness Of Fees:  $262,400 Fee Award In Real Estate Misrepresentation Case Won By Defendant Sellers Affirmed On Appeal

Cases: Lodestar, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

Various Lodestar Challenges Are Rejected In Unpublished Portion of Opinion.             In RSB Vineyards, LLC v. Orsi, Case Nos. A143781/A145029 (1st Dist., Div. 3 Sept. 29, 2017) (partially published; fee discussion not published), the trial and appellate courts confronted a plaintiff misrepresentation action relating to its purchase of a residence with a vineyard/wine tasting building

Bankruptcy/Reasonableness Of Fees:  Ninth Circuit Affirms Arbitrator’s Award Of Fee Recovery To Chapter 11 Debtor’s Attorneys Under Reasonable Value Cap Of 11 U.S.C. § 502(b)(4)

Cases: Bankruptcy Efforts, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

Appellate Court Also Reconciled Importance of Full Faith And Credit Act With Respect To Preclusive Effect Of Arbitrator’s Decision.             The Ninth Circuit in In re CWS Enterprises, Inc., No. 14-17045 (9th Cir. Sept. 14, 2017) (published) had to reconcile two provisions:  11 U.S.C. § 502(b)(4), a provision limiting pre-petition attorney’s fees provided to a

Bankruptcy Efforts, Pleading, Reasonableness Of Fees:  4/1 DCA Reverses Fee Award Based On Failure To Consider Previously Filed Papers On Prior Motion

Cases: Bankruptcy Efforts, Cases: Pleading, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

Additionally, Remand Made To Include Bankruptcy Efforts And Provide A Better Explanation Of 50% Fee "Haircut".             Roth v. Plikaytis, Case No. D070484 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Sept. 13, 2017) (partially published) is a situation where defendant prevailed on a breach of contract action allowing fee entitlement (after a jury trial), but where the trial

Deadlines, Fee Clause Interpretation, Reasonableness Of Fees:  $210,000 Contractual Fees Award Affirmed On Appeal In Contentious Foreclosure/Eviction Case  

Cases: Deadlines, Cases: Fee Clause Interpretation, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

  Technical Challenges Are Rejected At Appellate Level.             In Coastline RE Holdings Corp. v. Brillouet, Case No. B282382 (2d Dist., Div. 6 Aug. 24, 2017) (unpublished), owners/residential borrowers had their house foreclosed (after quitclaiming the property to various entities and filing bankruptcies which were dismissed) and then lost an eviction action by the buyer

Employment, Indemnity, Reasonableness Of Fees, Requests For Admissions: Four Unpublished Decisions On July 11, 2017 Highlight These Issues

Cases: Employment, Cases: Indemnity, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees, Cases: Requests for Admission

Fee Reasonableness—Neman Real Estate Investments, LLC v. Oken. Case Nos. B263196/B263718 (2d Dist., Div. 4 July 11, 2017) (unpublished).             In this first one, defendants won a commercial property dispute and were awarded costs/fees of $619,566.75 based on a “blended” $495 hourly rate to L.A. real estate litigators that happened to be “below market.”  The

Prevailing Party/Reasonableness Of Fees: Only One Prevailing Party Can Be The Result In Contractual Dispute Involving Defensive Cross-Complaint

Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

  Defendant Defeating Plaintiff’s Contractual Claims Was Sole Prevailing Party, Reversing Fee Award To Cross-Defendant Prevailing On Usury Claim.           In Kelly v. Mayer, Case No. D071080 (4th Dist., Div. 1 June 23, 2017) (unpublished), plaintiff sued on a note and defendant defensively cross-claimed primarily upon fraud and usury grounds. After a 25-day jury trial,

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