Plaintiff Sought $36,022, But Was Only Awarded $4,380 In Costs And Fees.
Even in the civil rights areas, looks like a lot of cases come down to attorney’s fee rulings. Turner v. Anand, Case No. D070433 (4th Dist., Div. 1 July 13, 2017) (unpublished) illustrates this well.
There, plaintiff sued defendant in state court under the Unruh Act based on alleged handicap parking accessibility issues involving a medical office building in El Centro. Earlier, plaintiff had brought an ADA federal court action which was dismissed as moot based on defendant fixing the parking lot, with plaintiff failing to file an amended complaint or seeking fees before the federal court. Later, in the state court action, the parties settled after the defense agreed to pay plaintiff $2,000 and reserve a fee determination for the trial judge. Plaintiff moved to recover fees under the Unruh Act (Civ. Code, § 52(a)) fee-shifting provision to the tune of $36,022 (primarily fees spent in the prior federal action). The trial judge refused to compensate for the federal court activities, awarding instead costs and fees of $4,380.
The 4/1 DCA affirmed the fee award over plaintiff’s protests on appeal. Three reasons were given: (1) the federal action was separate, with plaintiff citing no authority that Civil Code section 52(a) allows recovery for work in this separate action; (2) the federal court was dismissed as moot, such that plaintiff should have applied for fees there but likely would have lost because plaintiff did not prevail in light of defendant’s voluntary parking lot fix; and (3) the federal court dismissal did not provide an independent Unruh Act substantive basis for relief in the state court.