Plaintiffs Awarded Fees Had Compensatory Damages Of $252,000 And $558,000 After Factoring In Reversed Prejudgment Interest Awards.
Attorney’s fees awards do not have to be proportionate under Civil Code section 1717. Park v. Nazari, Case No. B253685 (2d Dist., Div. 3 Feb. 2, 2016) (unpublished) is an apt illustration of this principle.
There, plaintiffs/buyers prevailed on fraud claims to the tune of, after offsets, $252,000 and $558,000, arising of a failed sale of a truck business as against sellers. Various agreements had attorney’s fees clauses such that the trial judge awarded buyers $487,329 in fees plus costs, prompting an appeal by sellers.
Nothing changed on appeal. An initial problem was that the appealing sellers failed to quote the attorney’s fees provisions at issue such that review was close to impossible. However, at least one fee clause was broad—relating to issues “arising out of this Agreement”—such that tort claims were covered based on section 1717 jurisprudence.