Especially Where Lower Court Reduced It Down From $36,000 Request, Although Defendant Will Get More Fees For Winning On Appeal.
Ya gotta be careful what you ask for, especially when a trial court orders much lower statutory fees in a mandatory fee-shifting context. If you lose, you are stuck with the award you did not like, as well as having to now pay the appellate costs of the winning litigant.
Pardes v. The Boeing Company, Case No. G045055 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Mar. 8, 2012) (unpublished) illustrates these lessons, in a 3-0 opinion authored by Justice Moore.
There, attorney lost a SLAPP motion brought by Boeing, which successfully attacked attorney’s cross-complaint. Boeing requested $36,000 in attorney’s fees as the winner under the SLAPP mandatory fee-shifting provision. The trial court only awarded $9,019.88.
Rather than pack it home, attorney appealed.
He lost. Attorney offered only bare assertions about why the fee award was unsupportable, with the appellate court affirming but also indicating that Boeing was entitled to costs on appeal (which meant it can seek its appellate fees for sustaining the fee award). Brings to mind the notion that sometimes you have to lick your wounds and move on.