Cases: Section 1717

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Fourth District, Division 2 Extends Mediation Penalty to Nonsignatories in Unpublished Opinion.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

Fraud Cases: Don’t Forget That You May Get Fees Under Robinson Helicopter

Cases: Fee Clause Interpretation, Cases: Section 1717

  Second District, Division Seven Awards Fees To Broker Based On Fraud and Fees Clause in Brokerage Agreement.      Normally, Civil Code section 1717 does not allow recovery for fraud counts, unless the fees clause is broadly worded. (See our category “Cases: Section 1717.”) However, practitioners should not forget that fee recovery may be possible

Civil Code Section 1717: Broadly Worded Clause In Attorney Fee Retainer Resulted In Substantial Fee Award In Malpractice Action To Prevailing Client

Cases: Section 1717

Second District, Division Two Affirms $269,492.50 Fee Award Against Former Attorney Under Retainer Fee Clause.       A recurring theme of our website is that litigation frequently funnels (or devolves, depending on your perspective) down to which litigant wins attorney’s fees under a fee-shifting mechanism. The next case, yet again, is a classic example of how

Civil Code Section 1717: Fees Incurred In Previously Dismissed Action Properly Allowed In Refiled Action Where First Action Work Necessarily Used in Second Action.

Cases: Appealability, Cases: Section 1717

Fourth District, Division Three Also Faces Grant/P R Burke Appeal Untimeliness Issue.      Two interesting issues were raised in Presiding Justice Sills’ opinion on behalf of the Fourth District, Division Three in Kenney v. Tanforan Park Shopping Center, Case Nos. G038323 & G039372 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Dec. 15, 2008) (unpublished). The first concerns timeliness

Civil Code Section 1717 and Code of Civil Procedure Section 998: Poof! Substantial Fee/Cost Award Reversed Where Underlying Judgment Was Reversed

Cases: POOF!, Cases: Section 1717, Cases: Section 998

    Fourth District, Division Three Finds That Abandonment of Action Must Be Clear Before Dismissal Is Entered; With Dismissal Gone, Fee/Cost Award Is Also Reversed.      California litigators frequently have heard the mantra that "cases are to be tried or heard on the merits." In line with that, there are corollary principles, such as pretrial

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