First District, Division 5 Rejects Plaintiff’s Inability to Pay Based on Failure to Submit Any Financial Evidence.
The next case illustrates a lesson we see often in our “Family Law” category—if you are claiming fees should not be awarded or reduced on a “needs” basis, make sure you submit financial proof to back up your claim. If not, the claim likely will not go very far.
In Tran v. Pham, Case No. A123668 (1st Dist., Div. 5 Oct. 20, 2009) (unpublished), plaintiff lost her harassment TRO against her mother-in-law. After the hearing, plaintiff was ordered to pay $900 in attorney’s fees. Not liking this award at all, she appealed.
Plaintiff lost.
On appeal, plaintiff principally argued that the trial court failed to consider her inability to pay any fee award. Aside from the fact this claim was waived by not raising it in the trial court below, plaintiff never submitted any financial data so that the lower court could even consider any financial disparity. (Cf. Villanueva v. City of Colton, 160 Cal.App.4th 1188, 1204 (2008) [FEHA suit].) Mother-in-law did include an income and expense declaration in her TRO answer, which should have alerted plaintiff to the need to produce similar proof if she really was going to argue inability to pay. Plaintiff never did submit such proof, so that the lower court’s ruling could hardly be ruled an abuse of discretion.