Lower Court Properly Denied Plaintiff’s Fee Request.
If you lose all of your claims (even in the civil rights area), you likely are not the prevailing party. The appealing plaintiff found that out in Arevalo v. City of Long Beach, Case No. B250345 (2d Dist., Div. 7 Dec. 10, 2014) (unpublished).
There, plaintiff lost unlawful employment discrimination/retaliation claims after the jury agreed age discrimination was a factor but found a lack of causation so as to result in a defense verdict. The lower court denied plaintiff’s request to be awarded fees under the FEHA fee-shifting statute.
The appellate court found no error. After all, plaintiff lost all of his claims such that he was not a prevailing party.