First District, Division 4 So Rules In Interpreting CCP section 527.6(i).
Krug v. Maschmeier, Case No. A121940 (1st Dist., Div. 4 Mar. 25, 2009) (certified for partial publication) determined that a prevailing defendant in a civil harassment action can recover attorney’s fees even if the action was not frivolous or not brought in bad faith.
Defendant recovered fees of $15,000 in fees and costs (out of a requested $24,414.35) in defeating a plaintiff’s civil harassment proceeding brought under Code of Civil Procedure section 527.6. Defendant based his fee recovery on section 527.6(i), which states that the prevailing party in such a proceeding “may be awarded court costs and attorney’s fees, if any.” Plaintiff appealed, claiming primarily that a defendant only prevails upon a determination that plaintiff’s action was filed frivolously or in bad faith.
The appellate court rejected this proposition based on the plain wording of the statute. Nothing in the statute had these “sanctions” types of glosses, such that the Legislature’s clear language led “. . . inescapably to the conclusion that both plaintiffs and defendants in section 527.6 proceedings have an equal opportunity to recover their attorney fees, as well as costs, if they prevail.” (Slip Opn., at p. 7.)