Second District, Division 6 Finds Lack of Record to Show Fees Were Excessive.
Without sounding preachy, seriously, folks, if you are going to appeal, give the appellate court some authority and an adequate record. If not, you will be in the stance of the losing litigant in the next case we look at—having little chance of overturning a $1.2 million fee award.
M&C Products Analysis Technology v. Bertik, Case No. B200090 (2d Dist., Div. 6 Dec. 3, 2009) (unpublished) involved a situation where the appellate court had earlier overturned a lower court’s denial of attorney’s fees under circumstances where the lower court had found that plaintiff was the prevailing party for purposes of fee recovery under Civil Code section 1717 and Labor Code section 218.5. On remand, the trial court awarded plaintiff around $1.2 million in fees for prevailing at trial and then on appeal.
Although defendant appealed, it did not go very far. Reason you ask? Simple. Defendant failed to cite to any cogent authority and did not provide an adequate record for purposes of demonstrating error. That made it simple for Justice Perren, the author on behalf of a 3-0 panel of the Second District, Division 6, who affirmed the substantial fee award in favor of plaintiff.
Moral: Don’t slip on a banana appeal.
