Merely Objecting to Preliminary View in Statement of Decision Not Enough.
Landlord won modest damages in case, but was denied an award of attorney’s fees in a statement of decision giving a preliminary view on the prevailing party issue, a statement drawing objections by both sides and resulting in an eventual judgment stating both sides would bear their own fees/costs.
Landlord appealed the fee denial in Pace v. Orozco, Case No. B225816 (2d Dist., Div. 4 Nov. 22, 2011) (unpublished). The denial stuck on appeal. Reason? Landlord never filed a noticed fee motion, which forfeited the fee entitlement claim on appeal. (Hydratec, Inc. v. Sun Valley 260 Orchard & Vineyard Co., 223 Cal.App.3d 924, 929 (1990).) In so reasoning, the appellate court distinguished Dorman v. DWLC Corp., 35 Cal.App.4th 1808 (1995) because the forfeiture issue was not raised in a case garnering a reversal of a fee denial under a similar factual pattern.