Work Authorization Was Part of the Contract, Sustaining Fee Recovery.
Cooley’s General Pest and Termite Control, Inc. v. Westlake Bay Homeowners Assn., Case No. B221937 (2d Dist., Div. 6 May 24, 2011) (unpublished) is a case where an HOA was hit with a $102,025 attorney’s fees award under Civil Code section 1717. (Could have been worse, because plaintiff termite company requested $129,217.35 in feees.) HOA sought to rescind a termite eradication contract, but lost. Termite company won fees based on a fees clause in a work authorization attached to 31 inspection reports submitted to HOA.
HOA’s appeal of the fee award did not succeed. In response to the argument that the work authorization was not a contract, the appellate court responded “get out of here” (but in much more refined reasoning–after all, we have to keep everyone awake once in a while). The overall “deal” showed that the work authorization was part and parcel of the contractual bargain, with integrated documents being considered part of the gestalt. Fee award affirmed.