Second District, Division 3 Directs Recalculation of SLAPP Fee Award.
In Fuchs v. Smith, Case No. B222470 (2d Dist., Div. 3 July 5, 2011) (unpublished), defendants SLAPPed plaintiff’s malicious prosecution suit and were awarded all of their fees reasonably incurrred in the action (not merely SLAPP related fees), although the lower court did find the $85,600 fee request excessive–trimming it down to a $41,250 fee award.
Plaintiff appealed.
Upon review, the appellate court reversed and remanded for a recalculation of fees.
It found that fees can only be awarded for fees incurred for the defense extracting itself from a baseless suit through the SLAPP proceeding, rather than reimbursing the defense for all expenses incurred in the baseless suit. In doing so, the appellate court–in a footnote–found that any “all fee reimbursement” reasoning from Metabolife International, Inc. v. Wornick, 213 F.Supp.2d 1220 (S.D.Cal. 2002) was simply “contrary to California law.” (Slip Opn., p. 9 n. 7.)
On remand, the appellate court directed the trial court to carefully look at fees spent on a discovery motion, fees relating to an insurance dispute, and fees spent by another attorney party in his SLAPP proceeding for purposes of recalculating a proper fee.