Fee Provision Only Encompassed Narrower Action “To Enforce Or Interpret the Agreement.”
Plaintiff did well in a conversion, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and unfair competition action against defendants, eventually netting him $3.82 million in compensatory damages and $400,000 total punitive defendants against two defendants. He then sought to recover $2.1 million under an attorney’s fees clause in a transaction agreement allowing recovery in an action “to enforce or interpret” the agreement.
The lower court denied fees.
That determination was affirmed in Barton v. RPost International Limited, Case No. B255535 (2d Dist., Div. 5 Jan. 20, 2015) (unpublished), because no term of the transaction agreement was interpreted or enforced by the court. Rather, the case involved tort claims not within the scope of the fees clause.