Cases: Section 998 – Page 42 – Cal Attorneys Fees

Prevailing Defendant Is Not Awarded Costs Under Code of Civil Procedure section 998 Because Token Offers Close to Trial Were Not Reasonable in Nature

July 11, 2008

Sixth District Rejects Awarding Oil Company 998 Costs Against Three Unsuccessful Plaintiffs In Contamination Lawsuit. Oil Company was found negligent based on the contamination of a predecessor in a prior negligence action. Later, hundreds of plaintiffs in an adjacent property brought a contamination lawsuit against Oil Company. The trial court set

Section 998 Unapportioned Offer Made to Multiple Plaintiffs is Uncertain in Wrongful Death Case

Cases: Section 998

June 26, 2008

Second District, Division Six Reverses Expert Witness Cost Award Where No Individual Apportionment Made In Wrongful Death Case. In an earlier post on Alkire v. Vaughn, we discussed how a “single/indivisible damage injury” case could sustain a Code of Civil Procedure section 998 offer to multiple plaintiffs without an apportionment. Conversely,

Reversal and Remand of Damage Award Likely Means that Fee Award Under a 998 Offer Also Gets Reversed

Cases: Section 998, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

June 26, 2008

Fourth District, Division One Does Just That In Consumer Legal Remedies Act/Song-Beverly Act Case. The Song-Beverly Act, Civil Code section 1790 et seq., is a legislatively-crafted scheme to protect consumers buying certain personal goods from defects and providing replacement/repair directives under certain conditions. Section 1794(d) of the Song-Beverly Act provides for

Joint Section 998 Offers Are Okay to Multiple Plaintiffs Where Indivisible Injury or Singular Community of Interest Involved

Cases: Section 998

June 25, 2008

Second District, Division Eight So Rules In Forged Check Case. Code of Civil Procedure section 998 offers made to two or more parties, contingent on all parties’ acceptance and unapportioned, is generally not valid. This happens to be the general case because the offerees do not know with certainty what they

SECTION 998 OFFER WAS UNCERTAIN IN DEMANDING A GENERAL RELEASE OF “ALL CLAIMS”

Cases: Section 998, Cases: Standard of Review

June 20, 2008

Second District Finds Ambiguity in 998 Offer, Contrasting It With A More Limited Release of Claims Involved in the Operative Lawsuit. If a litigant is going to ask for a release of claims in a 998 offer, the next case offers a lesson in specificity—avoid asking for a release of generalized

SECTION 998 DOES NOT CREATE AN INDEPENDENT RIGHT TO ATTORNEYS FEES; VOLUNTARY DISMISSAL OF CONTRACT CLAIM BEFORE TRIAL DEFEATED ANY 998 FEE SHIFTING

Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Section 998

June 19, 2008

Fourth District, Division One Harmonizes the Interplay Between Code of Civil Procedure section 998 and Civil Code section 1717(b)(2). Recently, there has been a rash of decisions dealing with offers to compromise under Code of Civil Procedure section 998. The next case resolves what happens when section 998 collides with Civil

WORLDS IN COLLISION—CCP SECTION 998 AND OFFSETTING SETTLEMENTS: WHAT SETTLEMENTS GET TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT TO DETERMINE WHO IS A PREVAILING PARTY FOR 998 PURPOSES?

Cases: Section 998

June 16, 2008

First District Decides Issue in 998 Context, Also Noting Split in Appellate Thinking in Interpreting CCP Section 1032. On June 16, 2008, we had our first post on Code of Civil Procedure section 998. Lo and behold, the First District came out with a decision on the same day dealing with