Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

Reasonableness Of Fees 3-Fer: Fee Recovery Sustained In Landlord-Tenant, Family Law, And Appeal/Class Action Cases Based On Waiver, Failure To Provide Adequate Record, And Failure To Beat Abuse Of Discretion Standard On Amounts Awarded

Cases: Class Actions, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees, Cases: Record, Cases: Standard of Review

  Landlord/Tenant:  Sevier v. Ghannoura, Case No. B259542 (2d Dist., Div. 4 Mar. 22, 2016) (Unpublished).     Tenant won compensatory damages of $21,865 against landlords for illegal entry into common areas of a rental apartment without proper notice.  There was a fees clause, requiring mediation as a condition precedent, but tenant satisfied that by requesting […]

Reasonableness Of Fees/Special Fee Shifting Statute: IDEA Fee Award Of $7,780 Rather Than Requested $66,420 Affirmed On Appeal

Cases: Reasonableness of Fees, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

  Rejected Settlement Did Not Justify Post-Settlement Fees, Hourly Rate Reduction Justified, and Prior Consultant Determination Prevented Paralegal Fee Award.      Under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (“IDEA”), attorney’s fees are awardable to prevailing plaintiffs, generally the parents of a child with a disability, in the discretion of the district court. But there

Lodestar/Reasonableness Of Fees: Trial Judge’s 70% Across-The-Board Reduction In All Hours Rather Than Just Flawed Hours Was Arbitrary And “Swept Too Broadly”

Cases: Lodestar, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

  Fee Award of $59,334.60 Out Of Requested $308,425 Was Too Drastic Based On Using Improper Fee Reduction Methodology.     Haircut.  Marion Post Wolcott, photographer.  Sept. 1938.  Library of Congress.      In the last few months, we posted on some fees cases—most notably Kerkeles (see our December 20, 2015 post)—where appellate courts have reversed decisions

Prevailing Party/Reasonableness Of Fees/Section 1717: $396,031 Fee Award In Contentious Lease Dispute Affirmed On Appeal

Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

  Party Awarded Fees Prevailed, Plus Block Billing No Obstacle Where Apportionment Not Required.     In Kern Water Bank Authority v. Grayson Service, Inc., Case Nos. F069806/F070549 (5th Dist. Feb. 3, 2016) (unpublished), litigant in a contentious lease dispute recovered $396,031 out of a requested $566,930.  The Court of Appeal affirmed.  It found that the

Reasonableness Of Fees/Substantiation Of Reasonableness Of Fees: $180,880 Fee Award To Prevailing FEHA Plaintiff Winning $92,500 Affirmed On Appeal

Cases: Reasonableness of Fees, Cases: Substantiation of Reasonableness of Fees

  Dueling Appeals Resulted In No Change To Fee Award.      Alvarez v. W&L Harris Ranches, LLC, Case No. C074421 (3d Dist. Dec. 21, 2015) (unpublished) is an interesting case which primarily discusses the level of substantiation needed in a fee proceeding. It reinforces that California state court judges have a lot of discretion in

Reasonableness Of Fees: FEHA Plaintiff Prevailing Party To The Tune Of $5,000 Garners $10,000 More In Attorney’s Fees

Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

  Trial and Appellate Court Rebuffed Plaintiff’s Request For $153,525 In Fees.     Well, plaintiff won a FEHA claim—but had very limited success—in a tenant dispute with landlord and apartment managers over unlawful housing discrimination/retaliation for reporting the alleged discrimination.  A jury awarded plaintiff $5,000, after the trial court directed verdicts on plaintiff’s claims for

Reasonableness Of Fees: $55,000 Fee Recovery Was Not Exorbitant In Action Where Plaintiff Recovered $47,000 In Compensatory Damages Against Defendant Guarantor

Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

  No Proportionality Required Under Civil Code Section 1717.      In Cannon v. Hohenberg, Case No. H040497 (6th Dist. Oct. 27, 2015) (unpublished), defendant guarantor lost a case to the prevailing plaintiff where a contractual fees clause was involved. The lower court awarded about $55,000 in fees even though plaintiff only recovered $47,000 in compensatory

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