Opposing Arguments Were Dismissed, Including That A Prior Disciplined Attorney’s Rates Should Be Compromised Where No Causal Connection Demonstrated.
SLAPP fees are mandatory to a prevailing defendant, such that a challenge to their reasonableness must have some bite. That bite was missing in Creative Care, Inc. v. McEntyre, Case No. B308643 (2d Dist., Div. 3 Aug. 17, 2022) (unpublished). The litigant suffered a $14,030 adverse SLAPP fee attorney’s fees order. That litigant challenged the $550 hourly rate by opposing counsel, but the appellate court affirmed after deciding that (1) some faulty legal arguments by counsel did not necessarily justify a reduction under the circumstances of the matter, and (2) the claimant’s attorney’s prior Bar discipline did not warrant a deduction because there was no causal connection between the discipline and the fee request which was made in this case.