Cases: Section 1717

Civil Code Section 1717: Dismissal Of Foreign Corporate Plaintiff’s Action For Failure To Post Undertaking Is Finality For Purposes Of Awarding Fees

Cases: Section 1717

First District, Division 3 Decides Dismissal is Final For Section 1717 Purposes.      Recently, we have seen a slew of decisions, mainly unpublished, on what situations constitute finality for purposes of justifying a fee award under Civil Code section 1717. They go from one extreme like Santisas v. Goodin, 17 Cal.4th 599 (1998) (where the […]

Reneging House Seller Hit With Adverse $226,577.74 For Losing Specific Performance and Unlawful Detainer Actions

Cases: Sanctions, Cases: Section 1717

Court of Appeal Affirms Substantial Fee Award, But Reverses CCP Section 128.7 Sanctions.      As our Mission Statement warns, attorney’s fees can make or break a litigant given the high costs of taking a case to verdict or decision. The next litigant learned this message all too well, when a substantial fee award was affirmed

Civil Code Section 1717: Family Member Prevailing On Emotional Distress Claim Arising From Mistaken Interment Does Not Obtain Contractual Fees

Cases: Section 1717

Fourth District, Division 3 Splits On Liability Issue, But Decides No Fees.      In a first impression decision, involving a matter of last impression, a Fourth District, Division 3 panel split on whether a cemetery’s temporary interment of a stranger in a family plot adjacent to one’s parents may give rise to an emotional distress

Civil Code Section 1717: Dismissal of Complaint Without Prejudice Based On Service Technicality Is Not A Final Resolution Triggering Fee Recovery

Cases: Section 1717

Fourth District, Division 1 Distinguishes Its Own Otay Decision.      It is interesting that certain issues pop up and are discussed by different appellate courts around the same time frame.      In our February 20, 2008 post, we explored Hall-Mark Services, Inc. v. Harris & Associates, an unpublished Third District decision that distinguished Otay River

Civil Code Section 1717: Appellate Court Sustains Trial Court’s Refusal To Award Fees When Plaintiff Voluntarily Dismissed Contract-Based Claims

Cases: Costs, Cases: Section 1717

  Local Santa Ana Appellate Court Follows Santisas.      Santisas v. Goodin, 17 Cal.4th 599 (1998) is one of our Leading Cases, where the California Supreme Court held that contractual fees are not available under Civil Code section 1717(b)(2) where a case has been voluntarily dismissed or dismissed pursuant to a settlement of the case

Construction Litigation: Fourth District, Division 1 Reverses Fee Awards Under Code of Civil Procedure Section 1038 and Reverses/Affirms Others Under Civil Code Section 1717

Cases: Fee Clause Interpretation, Cases: Indemnity, Cases: Section 1717

Court of Appeal Discusses Numerous Issues Under the Two Statutes.      In a complicated construction dispute between window subcontractor and other construction professionals sued for equitable indemnity and contribution, the Fourth District, Division 1 reversed and affirmed some fee awards against window subcontractor after overturning a judgment on the pleadings, affirming a summary judgment as

Civil Code Section 1717: No Apportionment Necessary Where Bank’s Demand On Completion Guaranty Made Everything Interrelated

Cases: Allocation, Cases: Section 1717

Third District So Holds in Recent Unpublished Decision.      Under our category “Allocation,” we have reviewed cases arising under Civil Code section 1717 in which courts do and do not require apportionment of work between contract/noncontract claims for purposes of awarding fees. The basic test is that apportionment is not required where claims are “so

Purchase Agreement Mediation Clause: Even Nonsignatories Need To Satisfy Fee Qualification Requirement Or Risk Nonrecovery of Fees

Cases: Mediation, Cases: Section 1717

Fourth District, Division 2 Extends Mediation Penalty to Nonsignatories in Unpublished Opinion.      In our category “Cases: Mediation,” we have surveyed decisions warning all participants in a real estate transaction to satisfy a mediation requirement if it is called for as a requisite of obtaining an award of attorney’s fees under a fees clause. (Two

Civil Code Section 1717: Fee Award Reversed Because Prevailing Party Determination Is Different Than The Standard For Adjudging An Award Of Routine Costs

Cases: Allocation, Cases: Costs, Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Section 1717

Second District, Division 7 Remands for Further Fee Proceedings.      City of Los Angeles won attorney’s fees against a replacement contractor selected by a bonding surety, where surety and replacement contractor entered into contractual agreements incorporating original agreements between City and the replaced contractor. Replacement contractor lost in the construction litigation, with the trial court

Arbitration: Arbitrator’s Fee Award Modified By Appellate Court Based On Finding “No Anchor” For Fee Recovery

Cases: Allocation, Cases: Arbitration, Cases: Section 1717, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

First District, Division 2 Demonstrates Appellate Scrutiny Of Basis For Fee Award.      In past posts (see, e.g., our July 15, 2008 post on Patel v. Sagar), we have reviewed appellate decisions involving scrutiny of arbitration awards. Several decisions have affirmed arbitrator fee awards even though there was no clear basis, either by contract or

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