Attorneys' Fees

In 2007, Congress amended FOIA to partly overrule Buckhannon Board & Care Home, Inc. v. West Virginia Dept. of Health & Human Resources (2001) 121 S.Ct. 1835 and allow the plaintiff to recover attorney fees on the catalyst theory in FOIA cases.  The 2007 amendment allows a FOIA plaintiff to prove eligibility for a fee award by either (a) he… Read More

The federal Fair Housing Act's provision regarding attorney fees and costs must be interpreted like 42 U.S.C. 1988.  Christiansburg Garment Co. v. EEOC, 434 U.S. 412 (1978) applies.  A prevailing defendant cannot recover either attorney fees or costs without showing that the suit was frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless. Read More

Gov. Code 91003 allows an attorney fee award to the prevailing party in an action seeking injunctive relief to enjoin violations or to compel compliance with the provisions of the Political Reform Act.  This case holds that the statute does not pit impecunious plaintiffs against well-healed defendants.  So, the prevailing party standard adopted in Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc. (1994) 510… Read More

Probate Code 2640.1 allows a trial court to award attorney fees against the estate of the conservatee and in favor of the person who petitioned for appointment of a conservator if the court appoints a conservator different from the one the petitioner requested.  Here, however, the conservatorship petition was dismissed in a settlement before any conservator was appointed.  In that… Read More

When an attorney sues a client for attorney fees under an express or implied in fact contract for non-contingent fees that satisfies the requirements of Bus. & Prof. Code 6148, the attorney is entitled to the agreed fees even if they exceed a "reasonable fee" set by the lodestar plus multiplier method--so long as the fees and fee agreement are… Read More

In a construction dispute that originally was over $22,096, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in awarding plaintiff only $90,000 in attorney fees out of the $292,140 requested.  The case was relatively simple, ultimately turning on the contractor's lack of a license and proper insurance.  It involved only money, so it was reasonable to compare fees against recovery… Read More

After sending plaintiff a 998 offer to settle the entire case for $250,000, defendant sent plaintiff another offer, not under 998, to pay $191,000 on the contract claim, plus attorney fees, leaving the Civ. Code 3344 claim for trial.  Plaintiff accepted the second offer and later dismissed the Civ. Code 3344 claim.  Held, the second offer revoked the 998 offer,… Read More

The trial court did not abuse its discretion in holding that the defendant was not the prevailing party entitled to an attorney fee award under Civ. Code 3344 when the plaintiff dismissed its section 3344 claim without prejudice so that it could refile that claim (which it did) in Tennessee, whose law the trial court had held applied.  Civ. Code… Read More

The trial court abused its discretion in denying private attorney general fees under CCP 1021.5 to plaintiff who had prevailed on appeal, in a published decision, in reversing the defendant college's decision to expel him for having supposedly committed a sexual assault on another student.  The published appellate decision held that the college had failed to conduct the disciplinary proceedings… Read More

Under CCP 685.040, attorney fees incurred in enforcing a judgment may be recovered if the judgment includes an award of attorney fees pursuant to contract.  This decision holds that a judgment that awards attorney fees, suffices to allow an award of attorney fees incurred in enforcing the judgment even though neither the judgment nor any post-judgment order set an amount… Read More

The trial court properly awarded Attorney General Becerra attorney fees under CCP 1021.5 for successfully defending this lawsuit which produced an earlier published opinion holding that Gov. Code 12503's requirement that the candidate for Attorney General must have been admitted to practice for five years before the election was satisfied by inactive as well as active membership in the State… Read More

The trial court did not abuse its discretion in awarding attorney fees against plaintiff under CCP 2033.420(a) for denying requests for admission denying factual allegations at the heart of the plaintiff's claims.  Plaintiff did not bear his burden of proving that he had reasonable grounds for his denial of those requests for admission.  The trial court's denial of defendant's non-suit… Read More

The trial court did not err in awarding attorney fees to defendant noteholder when it prevailed against plaintiff borrower's negligence and fraud claims that were aimed at preventing enforcement of the note and deed of trust through nonjudicial foreclosure.  Even though the plaintiff pursued tort theories, the gist of the action was to prevent enforcement of the note and deed… Read More

While a plaintiff who seeks an attorney fee award must apply for the fees before entry of a default judgment, not afterwards, as in contested cases (Garcia v. Politis (2011) 192 Cal.App.4th 1474), here the defendant successfully moved to vacate the default and default judgment.  At that point the case became a contested proceeding, and upon prevailing in that proceeding,… Read More

After Voice of San Diego filed a public records request for the school district's records regarding a sexual molestation complaint against one of its teachers, Burgess, he brought this reverse Public Records Act complaint seeking to enjoin disclosure.  Voice intervened.  Burgess was denied injunctive relief and the records were produced, after which Voice sought a fee award under CCP 1021.5. … Read More

Plaintiff sued a corporation, took its default on a breach of contract claim.  Plaintiff also sued the corporation's owner and a related corporation.  After voluntarily dismissing the contract cause of action against those defendants, plaintiff continued to pursue tort claims against them for fraudulent conveyance and conspiracy, attempting to hold them liable on the default judgment against the corporation.  The… Read More

In this proceeding under the Hague Convention on Child Abduction and International Child Abduction Remedies Act (22 USC 9001 et seq.) the father was entitled to an attorney fee award as he had successfully obtained an order requiring the divorced mother to return the child to him.  However, the father served his attorney fee motion only four days before the… Read More

When a partner dissociates himself from a partnership, the partnership is required buy out the interest of the dissociating partner.  Corp. Code 16701(i) provides that the trial court may, in its discretion, award attorney's and expert's fees to the prevailing party and against a party that the court finds acted arbitrarily, vexatiously, or not in good faith.  This decision holds… Read More

The district court erred in enhancing an attorney fee award after settlement of a class action.  It should not have enhanced the fee simply because the plaintiff's attorney spent many hours on the case, particularly as much of that time was spent on discovery.  Since the defendant usually cannot retaliate, there is an incentive for class counsel to run up… Read More

This case holds that when a settling defendant in a class action agrees to pay a reasonable attorney's fee to the plaintiff's attorney separately from the amount paid in settlement of class members' claims, City of Burlington v. Dague (1992) 112 S.Ct. 2638 applies, and the court may not enhance the fee award to compensate for contingency risk. Read More