Second District, Division 1 Finds Nothing Amiss About Substantial Costs Award. For those of you who follow us (whether more or less religiously), you know we have Categories on the left hand side of our home page. One of the Categories is “Section 998,” discussing the effect of Code of Civil Procedure section 998 […]
First District, Division 3 Holds That 998 Offer Was Invalid, Requiring Plaintiffs To Conditionally Agree On Some Apportionment Between Themselves. Code of Civil Procedure section 998 offers require serious crafting to make sure they are valid. One of the cardinal rules is that, absent identical or indivisible interests among the offerees, the offer must
Unpublished Decision Faces Some Interesting Fee-Shifting Issues In ADA Case. Many of the California intermediate appellate unpublished decisions we examine have some very interesting legal issues for jurists to grapple with and resolve. The next one is no exception, containing some gnarly fee-shifting issues that involve Code of Civil Procedure section 998 (pretrial offer
Second District, Division 4 Rejects Plaintiff’s Protest to Cost Award, After Defense Prevailed and Recouped Expert Fees Through 998 Cost Shifting. Co-contributors Marc and Mike have litigated several cases (usually, fraud or nondisclosure cases) in which plaintiffs have attempted to recover damages for exposure to “toxic mold.” These cases are extremely expert intensive,
Second District, Division 6 Reinforces the Lesson in Workers’ Comp Lien Dispute. We have, on many occasions, discussed Code of Civil Procedure section 998, a fee-shifting statute based upon an offer of compromise. (See our category “Section 998” for more information on this area of the law.) Two of the things that must be
Third District Reaffirms Validity of Peterson in Unpublished Decision Involving Individual Plaintiff Who Could Compromise Both Personal and Representative Issues. In Van Alstyne v. Carter, Case No. C056440 (3d Dist. Apr. 14, 2009) (unpublished), plaintiff lost a crop damage case involving $1,200 in damages and an injunctive request after defendants defensed plaintiff through
Second District, Division 7 Finds Lower Court Erred in Its Application of Code of Civil Procedure Sections 998 and 1032. In our category “Section 998,” we have explored numerous cases that discuss the operation of Code of Civil Procedure section 998, a pretrial offer to compromise mechanism that can operate to deny post-offer fees
Second District, Division 1 Follows Palmer‘s Bright-Line Rule. In a very interesting unpublished case, plaintiffs suffered a nonsuit after the trial court struck a medical expert’s testimony based upon the expert not giving certain causation opinions during his deposition, even though plaintiffs’ counsel had provided notice three months before trial that causation would be
Fourth District, Division 3 Affirms Costs Award in Favor of Winning Individual Defendant. If you are a plaintiff suing for employment retaliation, do not think that the suit carries little risks. Routine, non-fee costs of a substantial nature can still be assessed against you. Also, you as the plaintiff need to seriously evaluate
Second District, Division Seven Also Finds That Defendant’s 998 Offer Was Too Uncertain to Enforce. The next case involves a personal injury case, involving an interesting discussion of Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.4’s fee-shifting provision and the uncertain nature of the defendant’s Code of Civil Procedure section 998 offer involving other litigation lurking
