Cases: SLAPP

SLAPP Two-Fer: High SLAPP Fee Award Cannot Surmount Abuse Of Discretion Review Standard And Partial SLAPP Wins On Appeal Allow Entitlement To Partial Fee Recovery

Cases: SLAPP

  Watts v. Curry, Case No. B213862 (2d Dist., Div. 6 May 17, 2010) (unpublished)      The first sentence of this decision told us it was written in the distinctive writing style of Presiding Justice Gilbert: “A series of seemingly petty, yet niggling, acts fueled by anger and frustration precipitated this unfortunate lawsuit.”      A […]

SLAPP: Law Firm “Saddled” With $76,275 SLAPP Fees Award For Failure To Make An Untimely Objection 19 Months “After The Horse Left The Barn”

Cases: Deadlines, Cases: SLAPP

U.S. District Judge Says “Nay” to Untimely Objection, Refusing to Follow Unpublished State Court Decision and Finding “The Horse Relevant to the Objection Left the Barn” Long Ago.      Here is an interesting development that Mr. Ed of an erstwhile television series (the proverbial “horse, of course, of course”) would be proud of. It also

SLAPP: $15,000 Fee Award Affirmed Out Of $35.382.37 Request

Cases: SLAPP

  Second District, Division 1 Clarifies that Maughan Did Not Establish a 50 Hour Definitive “Upper Limit” for Compensable SLAPP Motion Work.      In Stark v. Withrow, Case No. B214957 (2d Dist., Div. 1 Apr. 26, 2010) (unpublished), the Second District, Division 1 affirmed a $15,000 fee award (out of a requested $35,382.37) in favor

SLAPP: Court Of Appeal Sustains $42,593.75 Fees Award To Defendant In Affirming Case Involving The Megan’s Law Website

Cases: SLAPP, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

  Remand Also Ordered For Purposes of Awarding Appellate Defense Fees.      In Mendoza v. ADP Screening and Selection Services, Inc., Case No. B214653 (2d Dist., Div. 7 Mar. 23, 2010) (certified for publication), the appellate court considered the collision of Megan’s Law and the SLAPP statute. Specifically, Megan’s Law has a provision prohibiting use

SLAPP: $107,524.03 Fee Award To Defendants Affirmed On Appeal

Cases: SLAPP

First District, Division 2 Finds No Statement of Decision Required on Fee Ruling and that Lodestar Rates For Out-of-County Counsel Could Indeed Be Higher.      By now, most of you readers know that the anti-SLAPP statute has a mandatory fee-shifting statute in favor of prevailing defendants. That means the issue generally devolves to how much,

SLAPP: Individual Attorney, Claiming To Be In-House With Other Defendant Firms But Protecting His Interest in Other Firms, Not Entitled To Fee Recovery Under SLAPP Fee-Shifting Statute

Cases: SLAPP

Second District, Division 4 Agrees that Attorney Representing His Own Interests Cannot Recoup SLAPP Fees.      Attorneys representing themselves in successful anti-SLAPP motions are not entitled to recover attorney’s fees because there are no attorney-client relationships that lead to the attorney paying or becoming liable to pay in consideration for the legal representation. (Taheri Law

SLAPP: Reversal of SLAPP Grant On Two Out Of Four Claims Required Reconsideration of Fee Award

Cases: SLAPP

First District, Division 1 Does Reject That Insurance Defense Counsel Cannot Seek Fee Recovery.      In Roeder v. Gardner, Case No. A123864 (1st Dist., Div. 1 Feb. 22, 2010) (unpublished), defendant—through insurance defense counsel—obtained an anti-SLAPP strike of four causes of action out of eight. The trial court awarded $9,325 in mandatory attorney’s fees and

SLAPP: $24,442.50 Fee Award To City Of Pico Rivera Goes POOF Upon Reversal of SLAPP Grant

Cases: POOF!, Cases: SLAPP

Second District, Division 1 Rules Plaintiff’s Mandate Challenge to Compel City To Award a Contract Through Competitive Bidding Not Subject to anti-SLAPP Statute.      City of Pico Rivera likely felt pretty good after SLAPPing a plaintiff business’s mandate challenge to City’s invalidation of a contract with plaintiff and reentry into a contract with one of

SLAPP: Employee Attorney Representing Victorious Counsel In SLAPP Win On One Claim Was Allowed Prevailing Defendant Fee Recompense

Cases: SLAPP

Trope Prohibition Did Not Apply.       Trope v. Katz, 11 Cal.4th 274, 292 (1995) can strike fears into the heart of litigators winning hard fought battles for their own interests—it held that a law firm that is represented in litigation by its member attorneys cannot recover attorney’s fees under Civil Code section 1717. Trope has

Marc And Mike’s Top Twenty Decisions For 2009

Cases: Bankruptcy Efforts, Cases: Consumer Statutes, Cases: Family Law, Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5), Cases: Probate, Cases: Sanctions, Cases: SLAPP, Cases: Social Security, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

Part 1 of 2: First Ten Grouping—Nos. 11-20.      As noted in an earlier post, we have accumulated our “top 20” attorney’s fees decisions, recognizing that we limit the list to published decisions and that the order reflects nothing about the importance of the decision. Rather, we try to survey decisions of interest in different

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