Apportionment and Mitigation Arguments Rejected By Reviewing Court. Hill v. Degery, Case No. H038874 (6th Dist. June 9, 2014) (published) is a situation where, after an earlier appeal reversing a fee denial, an LLC member was granted fees based on its statutory immunity defense that it could not be liable unless its conduct […]
FEHA Plaintiff’s Counsel Offered 5% Duplication Discount and Trial Court Reduced Another 60% From Requested Amounts—Nothing More Needed. Vargas v. Martinez-Senftner Law Firm, P.C., Case No. C069218 (3d Dist. June 5, 2014) (unpublished) was a losing defense appeal of a second lower court award of an additional $224,675.71 in fees to a winning
However, Fee Recovery Modified to Allow Recovery Against Only Losing Signatory Defendant. Plaintiff, after losing her investment in a security, sued various parties involved in its sales and packaging, with a jury ultimately awarding her $196,058.33 on fraud, fiduciary duty breach, negligence, and negligent misrepresentation claims. The lower court then awarded $125,000 (out
Plaintiff Wanted $93,421.50 in Fees and $7,609.19 in Costs. Arguing that a lower court erred in fixing the amount of a fee award is a tough proposition given that a deferential abuse of discretion review standard applies. Plaintiff learned that all too well in Nickel v. ARB, Inc., Case No. G048500 (4th Dist., Div.
Fee Clause Was Broad, But Lower Court Correctly Reduced Paralegal Hourly Rates—Finding $330 Per Hour Too High. Royalty Alliance, Inc. v. Tarsadia Hotels, Case Nos. D062537/D063402 (4th Dist., Div. 1 May 29, 2014) (unpublished) was a case where plaintiffs lost summary judgment motions challenging a developer’s retention of purchase deposits under various theories,
$603,150 Out of Requested $1,512,794.50 Was the Award, With Defense Counsel Getting Paid $1,070,000 by Safeway. Although unpublished, the Second District, Division 4 has done an outstanding job of analyzing a reasonableness of fee award where both sides (prevailing employee and defending former employers) appealed, with employee arguing the fee award was too
Section 998 Calculation of Preoffer Fees/Costs Sealed the Result. Frontier Land Companies v. Jeld-Wen, Inc., Case No. C064351 (3d Dist. May 22, 2014) (unpublished) is a case involving contractual/indemnity claims by plaintiff residential home builder against defendant window/door subcontractor. At trial, plaintiff claimed damages of $245,066.82, but the defense countered damages were at
Published Part of Opinion on Fee Issues Focuses on Reasonable Hourly Rates in Court Venue. Altavion, Inc. v. Konica Minolta Systems Laboratory Inc., Case Nos. A134343/A135831 (1st Dist., Div. 5 May 8, 2014) (partially published; fee discussion on hourly rates published but rest of fee discussion unpublished) dealt with both the merits of
Discounted Rates of $150-260 in Riverside Were Just Fine. Defendant promising to sell certain property to a plaintiff governmental entity for $8.42 million, with some environmental contamination holdback provisions, lost a specific performance suit in Riverside County Transportation Commission v. Liston Brick Co. of Corona, Case No. E054980 (4th Dist., Div. 2 Apr.
However, Sellers Were Liable To Third-Party For Losing Their Contractual/Indemnity Claims, Which Were Intertwined And Needed No Apportionment. Real estate buyer lost tort/statutorily-based nondisclosure claims to the sellers in a dispute where a purchase agreement had a fees clause mandating fees in an action brought “with respect to the subject matter of enforcement
