Numerous CRC Provisions And Cases Established The Proper Conclusion.
We thank the 2/2 DCA panel in Gallop v. Duval, Case No. B308531 (2d Dist., Div. 2 Sept. 2, 2021) (unpublished) for clarifying the deadlines which apply to timely filing of an attorney’s fees motion when posttrial motions have been denied. Prevailing party filed an attorney’s fees motion which was denied as untimely because it was not made 30 days after notice of the ruling denying a posttrial motion was served. However, the fee motion was timely if the longer 180-day period was used assuming that the service of the notice of ruling was not a proper service of “an order denying the [posttrial] motion or a notice of entry of that order” for purposes of CRC, Rule 8.108. The problem is that the other side only served a notice of ruling on the posttrial motions, not a service of a copy of the actual order or a notice of entry of that order, with the notice of entry stating “Notice of Entry” and attaching a file-stamped copy of the order. The fee denial on untimeliness was reversed for a merits determination based on the failure to trigger a shorter appeal period within which to file the fees motion.