Don’t Ignore Civil Code § 1708.6(c) . . . . But It Is Discretionary In Nature.
Here is a nice fee entitlement statute in the domestic violence tort area (bet a lot of you did not know there was such a statutory tort). Civil Code section 1708.6(c) expressly provides that the court in such an action “may grant to a prevailing plaintiff equitable relief, an injunctions, costs, and any other relief that the court deems proper, including reasonable attorney’s fees.”
However, the trial court is the one to make this determination, with an appellate court in a recent decision directing that this request be considered by the lower court in the first instance. See Cheng v. Casas, Case No. H034352 (6th Dist., Mar. 15, 2011) (unpublished).