California Appellate Tracker

Hay v. Marinkovich (2025) 329 Cal.Rptr.3d 558

March 24, 2025

Attorneys Fees, Prevailing Party, Prevailing Defendant, Asymmetrical Standard To Further Statutory Purpose, 1, 2

This decision holds that Penal Code 502(e) allows attorney fee awards to prevailing defendants since it simply states that in a case under that section (which forbids computer hacking) the court may award attorney fees. The Legislature knew how to stay awards to prevailing plaintiffs only, but didn’t. However, following Travis v. Brand (2023) 14 Cal.5th 411, the decision also holds that the purpose of section 502 and its subdivision (e) was to encourage suits against computer hackers and therefore the statute, though silent on the subject, should be interpreted to set an asymmetric standard for attorney fee awards allowing a prevailing defendant to recover attorney fees only when the claim was objectively unreasonable from the outset or was carried on after it became objectively unreasonable.

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Hay v. Marinkovich (2025) 329 Cal.Rptr.3d 558

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