Cross-Complaint Defense Work Involving Pre-Fees Clause Conduct Primarily Cut By 1/3 DCA.
In a long-standing commercial tenancy dispute producing an earlier appellate opinion reversing a SLAPP motion, a former landlord (plaintiff and cross-defendant) finally prevailed against tenant when the trial judge after a bench trial awarded landlord $85,000 in back rent plus prejudgment interest after tenant dismissed her cross-complaint. Then, the trial judge awarded total attorney’s fees of $113,096.33 out of a requested $118,096.33 pursuant to a contractual fees clause.
After affirming the merits of the judgment in a published portion of the opinion, the 1/3 DCA in Hong Sang Market, Inc. v. Peng, Case Nos. A140653/A141640 (1st Dist., Div. 3 Feb. 13, 2018) (fee discussion unpublished) trimmed the fee award to landlord downward to $49,812.83.
The reason for the “trim” primarily was that the work on the defense of tenant’s cross-complaint involved conduct which predated the operative fees clause.
BLOG OBSERVATION—In the published portion of the opinion, there is a good discussion about res judicata effect of a prior unlawful detainer judgment with respect to a subsequent long-cause action to collect back rent.