Fourth District, Division
Fee Grant to Plaintiff.
Previously, in our July 21, 2008 post on The Right Site Coalition (an unpublished reversal), we discussed Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.5, the private attorney general fee provision. Section 1021.5 authorizes an award of attorney’s fees if (1) plaintiff’s action resulted in the enforcement of an important right affecting the public interest; (2) a significant benefit, whether pecuniary or nonpecuniary, has been conferred on the general public or a large class of persons; and (3) the necessity and financial burden of private enforcement are such as to make the fee award appropriate. (See Woodland Hills Residents Assn., Inc. v. City Council, 23 Cal.3d 917, 935 (1979).) In the case we next digest, the Fourth District, Division One reversed a lower court determination awarding fees to a successful plaintiff, finding that his efforts really were aimed at vindicating the plaintiff’s personal interests.
Starting v. County of San Diego, Case No. D051184 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Aug. 15, 2008) (unpublished) involved a plaintiff who prevailed in his petition for a peremptory writ of mandate challenging San Diego County’s refusal to remove his name from a child abuse index. After the County determined that abuse allegations against plaintiff were "inconclusive," plaintiff filed mandate requiring County to notify the Department of Justice that the child abuse allegations were "unfounded." He won mandate and was awarded attorney’s fees of $31,105 under section 1021.5.
On appeal, the Fourth District, Division One reversed, determining that even under the abuse of discretion standard, discretion cannot be exercised where there is no reasonable basis for the action. The appellate court went through the various section 1021.5 elements, but ultimately decided that the plaintiff was vindicating his own interests and that County never challenged the mandate procedure as a vehicle for other aggrieved litigants in plaintiff’s position. Because it felt no reasonable bases existed for a fees award under any of the section 1021.5 factors, the lower court determination was overturned as a matter of law.