Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

Deadlines/Section 1717/Substantiation Of Reasonableness of Fees: Fourth District, Division 3 Talks About Timely Moving For Fee Recovery, Scope of Section 1717 Recovery, And Fee Billing Redactions

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

  Reversal and Remand Was the Result in this One.      Acting Presiding Justice O’Leary in Fuller v. Monogram Real Estate, Case No. G044808 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Dec. 19, 2011) (unpublished), on behalf of a 3-0 panel of our local appellate court, got to explore three issues of interest in the attorney’s fees area […]

Reasonableness Of Fees: $52,848 Fee Award Sustained

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

  Proper Substantiation and Reduced Hourly Fee Clinched the Result.      A trial court awarded $52,848 fee award to a defendant who non-suited a plaintiff in a legal malpractice action at trial. Plaintiff challenged the fee award as excessive.      Not so, said Presiding Justice Mallano–in a 3-0 opinion–in Jackson v. Kim, Case Nos. B219116/B221686

Reasonableness Of Fees: Fees Clause Allowed Trial Court Authority To Award $204,637 In Fees Under Section 1717 For Two Successful Demurrers

Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

  Excessiveness Challenge Rejected By Appellate Court.      A party who was successfully dismissed as a proposed complainant in intervention, after two demurrers, was hit with a $204,637 fee award under Civil Code section 1717 based on a fees clause. The party was obviously upset, appealing the award as excessive.      Not so, said the

Civil Rights/Reasonableness Of Fees: $677,025 Fee Award Affirmed On Appeal

Cases: Civil Rights, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

  60% Reduction by Trial Court Dispatched Inefficiency/Padding/Overcharge Challenges.      In Fuentes v. Autozone, Inc., Case No. B224034 (2d Dist., Div. 4 Nov. 16, 2011) (certified for partial publication; fee discussion unpublished), plaintiff won a $160,000 FEHA damages award, with the lower court subsequently awarding attorney’s fees of $677,025 under the fee-shifting statute. In doing

Reasonableness Of Fees: $168,508.75 Fee Award Was Not Reasonable In Amount, Where Time Records Showed No Apportionment Out Of Time Spent On Parallel, But Legally Unrelated, Action By Attorney Representing Winning Defendant

Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

       Here is one demonstrating that appellate courts do not blindly rubber stamp trial court fee awards, simply because a side did prevail. Especially so, when there are multiple lawsuits being litigated and the winning attorney did not clearly apportion out work spent on a parallel, but legally unrelated, action involving the same clients.

Reasonableness Of Fees: Work Of Second Attorney Affiliating Closer To Trial Properly Discounted From Fee Award

Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

  Trial Court Discretion Is Broad on this Issue.      Viney v. Grupp, Case Nos. A120208/120993 (1st Dist., Div. 4 Oct. 19, 2011) (unpublished) is a convoluted real property easement interference case–involving landlocked property–where one $240,000 fee award went POOF! based on a partial reversal of a damages issue (and appellate instructions that there might

Employment/Special Fee Shifting Statute (Pen. Code, § 502)/Reasonableness Of Fees/Allocation/Substantiation Of Fees: $980,373.50 Fee Award To Ex-Employee Not Paid All His Promised Commissions And Subject To Personal Computer Tampering Affirmed On App

Cases: Allocation, Cases: Employment, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes, Cases: Substantiation of Reasonableness of Fees

  Appellate Court Found Lower Court Correct to View L.A. Attorneys As Within San Bernardino Venue and Necessary Given Earlier Misfortunes with Local Attorneys.      Trealoff v. Forest River, Inc., Case No. E048818 (4th Dist., Div. 2 Oct. 6, 2011) (unpublished) was a case where an ex-employee won sizable jury verdicts, including punitive damages, for

Civil Rights/Special Fee Shifting Statute: Defendant/Cross-Complainant Losing Adverse Elder Abuse Claim and FEHA Cross-claim Properly Hit With $1.312 Million Fee Order

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

  She Lost Elder Abuse Claim by Plaintiff and Did Not Prevail on Her Frivolous FEHA Sexual Harassment Cross-claim.      Bad facts can result in large jury verdicts; they also tend to guide the dispositon of the trial judge when it comes to awarding attorney’s fees against the non-prevailing litigant. That is what happened in

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