$25,675 Was Awarded in Favor of Winning Defendants.
Plaintiffs, suing on a loan agreement with a fees clause, lost on statute of limitations (time bar) grounds to defendants in Hale v. Adams, Case No. B234826 (2d Dist., Div. 4 Aug. 14, 2012) (unpublished). Defendants then moved for and recovered $25,675 in attorney’s fees under Civil Code section 1717.
On appeal, plaintiffs argued that defendants really didn’t win except on a technical defense. No way, said the appellate court, they won an unqualified win and the win could certainly be on something other than the raw merits under the reasoning of the California Supreme Court in Hsu v. Abbara, 9 Cal.4th 863 (1995) [one of our Leading Cases].