Cases: Section 1717

Section 1717: Appellate Court Remittitur Choice To Respondent On Damages Requires Reconsideration of Fee Award

Cases: Assignment, Cases: Section 1717

Fourth District, Division 3 Remands Fee Recovery Under Unusual Procedural Circumstances.      Here is an interesting decision with a procedural twist—with apologies to Chubby Checker (oh, boy, are we dating ourselves).      Chubby Checker does the Twist.      In Nguyen v. Dang, Case Nos. G041224/G041380 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Mar. 11, 2010) (unpublished), a signatory […]

Section 1717 And Fees Clause Interpretation: Fee Denials Against Apartment Seller And Escrow Company Reversed And Remanded For Reconsideration

Cases: Fee Clause Interpretation, Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Section 1717

  Second District, Division 7 Finds Reversal of Prejudgment Interest Issue Requires Reexamination of Prevailing Party Determination and the Escrow Instructions Fee Clauses Were Sufficiently Broad for Fee Entitlement Purposes      In Marina Glencoe, L.P. v. Malibu Escrow Corp., Case No. B203415 (2d Dist., Div. 7 Mar. 1, 2010) (unpublished), an apartment building purchaser recovered

Section 1717: No Error In Awarding Fees Jointly and Severally Against Two Companies Where Property Seller Remained In Unlawful Detainer Action

Cases: Section 1717

Fourth District, Division 3 Finds Nothing Wrong With “Joint and Several” Judgment.      Plaintiff sold its property and assigned its rights under a lease with a particular tenant to another company becoming a co-plaintiff in an unlawful detainer action eventually won by defendant tenant. There was a fees clause, with the lower court awarding over

Section 1717: No Basis For Fee Recovery Where Operative Contract Had No Fees Clause, Even Though Later Contract Did Have Fees Clause

Cases: Allocation, Cases: Section 1717

  Analysis of Fee Recovery Under Multiple Agreements Must Focus On Contract With Fee Clause Predicate.      Many decisions we have examined in the past under Civil Code section 1717 involve situations where multiple contracts (some with fees clauses and some without) are part of an integrated transaction or where apportionment between contract/noncontract claims was

Jurisdiction To Award Fees And Prevailing Party Status: Borrower Substantially Reducing Loan Exposure Through Usury Defense Awarded Fees Of $43,960

Cases: Deadlines, Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Section 1717

Trial Court Had Jurisdiction to Award Fees While Merits Appeal Pending and Borrower Was the Prevailing Party.      Borrower on a loan, even after an initial appeal, reduced a loan balance to only $3,602.72 after an offset for usurious interest. The lower court refused to award costs to lender and also awarded $43,960 to borrower

Civil Code Section 1717: Attorney’s Fees Awarded To Assignor And Against Assignee Reversed Where Nothing Showed Ability to Recoup Fees From the Assignment Relationship

Cases: Section 1717

Mutuality Principle Did Not Kick In Where No Basis For Fee Recovery Existed Between Assignor and Assignee.      Civil Code section 1717’s mutuality principle is well renowned and followed frequently. However, it will not even come into operation if there is no basis for the nonprevailing party to have recovered any contractual fees from the

Civil Code Section 1717: Settlement Of Easement Dispute Under Agreement With Fees Clause, After Defendants Sold The Property, Did Not Allow Fee Award Under Section 1717

Cases: Section 1717

  Procedurally Curious Easement Dispute Resulted in Split Opinion on Propriety of Section 1717 Fee Award.      Even unpublished decisions result in a difference in opinion, as the next case involving Civil Code section 1717 demonstrates.      Goldsmith v. Caldwell, Case Nos. C059420/C060427 (3d Dist. Jan. 11, 2010) (unpublished) involved a somewhat gnarly dispute between

Mike And Marc’s Top Twenty Decisions For 2009

Cases: Consumer Statutes, Cases: Liens for Attorney Fees, Cases: Retainer Agreements, Cases: Section 1717, Cases: Section 998, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

Part 2 of 2: Second Ten Grouping—Nos. 1-10.      We already gave you our top 11-20 decisions previously this month.      As noted in an earlier post, we have accumulated our “top 20” attorney’s fees decisions, recognizing that we limit the list to published decisions and that the order reflects nothing about the importance of

Section 1717 Prevailing Party and Arbitration Grant: Fourth District, Division 1 Decides That Interim Decision Did Not Solidify Status Of Who Prevailed For Fee Award Purposes

Cases: Arbitration, Cases: Section 1717

Warburton Decision is a Companion to our December 28 Post on Lake v. Griffin, But in Inverse Fashion.      In our December 28, 2009 post, we reviewed Lake v. Griffin, where the Fourth District, Division 1 held that a denial of a motion to compel arbitration in an ongoing case was not a "discrete proceeding"

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