Appellate Court Did Note Split On Appealability Issue Which Was Unnecessary To Resolve. A litigant only appealed a SLAPP ruling, never mentioning a fee award as also being challenged in the notice of appeal. That made it an easy call for the 2/8 DCA in Mostafavi v. Kingsley, Case No. B286081 (2d Dist., Div. […]
Various Challenges Did Not Prevail. Defendants prevailed on their anti-SLAPP motion, which requires mandatory fees in the trial judge’s discretion. They asked for $44,656.73, but were awarded $22,000, but plaintiff still appealed in Lavi v. Cohen, Case Nos. B281352/B284653 (2d Dist., Div. 3 Oct. 31, 2018) (unpublished). They were not successful on appeal.
Fee Request Claimed High Hourly Rates And Inflated Work Requests. By now, readers will know that winning defendants in SLAPP motions are entitled to a fee recovery. (Code Civ. Proc., § 425.16(c)(1).) Despite this entitlement, however, the fee request must be reasonable under the lodestar analysis, allowing a trial judge to deny entirely or
Both Sides Appealed, But Trial Court’s Fee Recovery Orders Were Affirmed. In Geiser v. Kuhns, Case No. B279738 (2d Dist., Div. 5 Aug. 30, 2018) (unpublished), defendants were awarded $40,000 in attorney’s fees based on defeating plaintiff’s civil harassment action but were denied additional fees based on the defense SLAPP motions because the lower
On Remand, Lower Court Will Have To Carefully Gauge Whether Defendant Prevailed Given That It Only Eliminated One Factual Basis For Liability, But No Cross-Claims Were Eliminated In Entirety. Anaheim Arena Management, LLC v. Wergechik, Case No. G054463 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Aug. 20, 2018; received for posting Aug. 21, 2018) (unpublished) was a
However, Trial judge Was Right In Reducing $50,295 Fee Request Down To $33,759.28. By now, our readers know that SLAPP defendants are entitled to mandatory attorney’s fee awards. However, there is an important “but.” That “but” is that the defense requested fees must be reasonable, with a large amount of discretion imbued to the
$14,000 Fee Award Against Plaintiff Affirmed, But Denial Of Fee Award Against Plaintiff’s Attorney Affirmed Also. In Boodaie v. Vosoghi, Case No. B280032 (2d Dist., Div. 8 July 2, 2018) (unpublished), plaintiff did not oppose a defense SLAPP motion. Plaintiff appealed a subsequent fee award of $14,000 (out of a requested $20,475) on the
Result Was Affirmance Of Trial Court Award Of $16,289.11 In Fees/Costs For The Defense. In Dellinger v. Harn, Case No. C082821 (3d Dist. June 28, 2018) (unpublished), plaintiff (a government relations and political consultant) earlier won a jury trial by which a jury said he did not have to return $10,000 paid to him
Case Highlights That Inconsistencies In Declaration Testimony Can Doom A Law-And-Motion Proceeding Request. Thomas v. Makovoz, Case No. B281322 (2d Dist., Div. 8 June 12, 2018) (unpublished) is a doozy of a case where inconsistencies in an attorney’s SLAPP fee submissions tanked efforts to obtain fee recovery after she won a defense SLAPP motion with
Failure To Provide Adequate Record In The Form Of Fee Hearing Transcript And Subsequent Minute Order Was Fatal. We have posted many, many times about the necessity for an adequate record when one perfects an appeal. If you do not, you cannot get beyond the batter’s box if the appellate court is the analogy
