Cases: Settlement

Class Actions/Civil Rights/Private Attorney General/Settlements: California Lawyer Article Explores Negotiation Of Attorney’s Fees In Public Agency Cases

Cases: Civil Rights, Cases: Class Actions, Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5), Cases: Settlement

  Concurrent Negotiation of Substantive Relief and Fees in Public Agency Cases Is Allowable.      Adam W. Hofmann, an attorney in the San Francisco office of Hanson Bridgett, has written an article entitled “Negotiating Attorneys Fees” in the January 2011 edition of The California Lawyer. In it, he explains that California cases expressly reject any […]

Prevailing Party: Mixed Results Means Plaintiff Not Entitled To Fee Award Under Settlement Agreement

Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Settlement

Despite County’s Breach of Completion Date, Continued Negotiations Waived Any Breach and Mixed Results Sustained Fee Denial.      Unless you have a clear win under a contractual fees clause, a trial judge has discretion to determine who the prevailing party is under Civil Code section 1717. We have blogged on many cases that underscore this

Costs And 998: Second District, Division 7, Through P.J. Perluss, Gives Us A Two-Fer Tutorial On Costs and CCP § 998

Cases: Costs, Cases: Settlement

     Presiding Justice Perluss, on behalf of the same panel of the Second District, Division 7 (yet in two separate unpublished decisions), gives us some good teachings on routine costs and Code of Civil Procedure section 998 issues. Costs: Mixed Result Means Prevailing Party Determination is in Lower Court’s Discretion.      In Cordier v. Swanson

Settlement Stipulation: Stipulation To Arbitrate Clearly Waived Right To Appeal Arbitrator’s Award

Cases: Arbitration, Cases: Settlement

  Fourth District, Division 3 Honors Stipulation By Its Terms on Forfeiture of Appellate Rights.      Appellate courts will enforce the bargains struck between parties, even when they involve waivers of fundamental rights (such as the right to appeal). That happened in the next case we discuss.      In Fridman v. Beach Crest Villas Homeowners

Fee Clause Interpretation And Settlement Exclusion: Court Of Appeal Reverses Trial Court Refusal To Grant Attorney’s Fees To Prevailing Supplier In Water Clarification Building Fire

Cases: Fee Clause Interpretation, Cases: Settlement

  Third District Finds Settlement Agreement Carve-Out Preserved Right to Seek Fees Under Indemnity Agreement Clause.      Bravo to the attorneys representing a prevailing party in the next case. They properly worded a partial settlement agreement carve-out so as to preserve their client’s ability to seek fees under a contract once the client prevailed against

Section 998: Plaintiff Cannot Accept 998 Offer After A Summary Judgment Grant

Cases: Settlement

First District, Division 1 Confronts Novel Procedural Circumstance in Unpublished Opinion.      Our intermediate California appellate courts confront some very interesting cases in which two statutory schemes collide in unusual procedural settings. The next one involves a collision between Code of Civil Procedure section 998 (California’s pretrial offer of judgment statute) and Code of Civil

Off Topic: “APPROVED AS TO FORM AND CONTENT” Settlement Agreement Language Does Not Give Rise To Actionable Misrepresentation Claims To Opposing Counsel As Against Approving Counsel

Cases: Settlement, Off Topics

Although Not a Fees Issue, Decision Is Of Interest to All California Litigators.      For all you litigators out there, every wonder if signing “APPROVED AS TO FORM AND CONTENT” language in a settlement agreement might result in exposure to a person other than your client (especially an opposing counsel)? An opposing counsel sued on

Section 998: Defendant Properly Framed 998 Offer, With Result That $152,147.45 In Post-Offer Costs And Attorney’s Fees Affirmed On Appeal

Cases: Settlement

Appellate Court Also Correctly Rejected Defense Request for $55,000 in Expert Witness Fees.      For all of you who have ever had trouble figuring out how 998 offers work in a fee-shifting context, the next unpublished decision is a good primer on how these offers are applied in real time.      In Linear Electric, Inc.

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