Petitioner Prevailed On This Score — 3 Requests Granted, 2 Requests Denied, and 2 Requests Informally Resolved. Petitioner seeking records on mold presence in a school district’s properties was able to force district to comply by producing certain records in Garcia v. Governing Bd. of Bellflower Unified School Dist., Case No. B247320 (2d […]
$700,000 Was Fee Award, With Appellate Court Sustaining $686,500 Of It In Conceded Reductions. Defendant in Kalfin v. Kalfin, Case No. G047275 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Oct. 15, 2013) (unpublished) was hit with a $1.4 million compensatory and $260,000 punitive damages award on causes of action for contractual breach and financial abuse in
$331,210.16 Fee Request Rebuffed. School district in Camberos v. Lewis, Case No. B230562 (2d Dist., Div. 2 Oct. 9, 2013) (unpublished) won a personal injury case through a nonsuit motion, but was denied a fee request of $331,210.16 under Code of Civil Procedure section 1038, a statute allow for fee recovery for a
Limited Partnership Fees Clause Was Broad, And Judicial Dissolution Statute Did Not Retard Fee Exposure. Limited partnerships (LPs), unfortunately, do foment a lot of legal disputes. No less, in this next case. The problem is that the losing litigant, although dismissing an involuntary dissolution cross-claim, lost both that as well as contractually-based claims
California State Court Rules, More Lax, Steer the Determination. In a long-standing feud of a sense, a trial court in Ripken v. Ballard, Case No. C070158 (3d Dist. Oct. 3, 2013) (unpublished) found that defendant was in contempt for disobeying a 2002 judgment restraining her and her agents from trespassing, blocking, or putting
$80,000 Fee Award/$2,000 Costs Award Go POOF! Artist: Jean-Léon Gérôme. 1824 – 1904. Optometrist had gotten a nice win–a superior court overturned an ALJ’s determination that the optometrist had violated the standard of care in relation to a patient’s cataracts diagnosis. The lower court then awarded optometrist about $80,000 in fees
Motivation of Party Irrelevant; Negative Multiplier Was Abuse of Discretion. In Guarino v. City of Fontana, Case No. E054357 (4th Dist., Div. 2 Sept. 26, 2013) (unpublished), plaintiff filed a request for documents with the City of Fontana under the California Above: Fontana City Hall. Author: JWut89LA. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Public
CCP § 527.6 Allows Court to Award Fees to Prevailing Party. In Narog v. Claybaugh, Case No. A131782 (1st Dist., Div. 1 Aug. 29, 2013) (unpublished), plaintiff filed a restraining order petition against neighbor defendant, who responded by seeking a declaration that plaintiff was a vexatious litigant and should have to post a
No Basis for Fee Entitlement Shown. Cain killing Abel. Jan Lievens. De Freitas v. M.J.B. Pipeline, Case No. A133946 (1st Dist., Div. 3 Aug. 23, 2013) (unpublished) pitted two deadlocked 50-50 shareholder brothers of a corporation against each other. Although a voluntary dissolution had been initiated, one of the brothers successfully
Case Is A Good One For Use of Legislative History When Confronting An Ambiguous Statute. Government Code section 65589.5(k) provides that the court shall award reasonable attorney’s fees and costs of suit to the plaintiff proposing “the housing development” under the Not-In-My-Back-Yard law, which usually would be a fee-shifting provision that was pro-developer
