This opinion affirms the trial court’s denial of attorney fees sought by plaintiff in long-running litigation between the two parties. Plaintiff recovered $38,0000 in the original proceeding. It waited more than a year after the remittitur issued ending the appeal from that judgment before filing a separate action to enforce the judgment against the supersedeas bond that defendant had posted in connection with its appeal. Since plaintiff could have avoided the expense and delay associated with the independent action by filing a motion in the original action within a year after the remittitur, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying a fee award in connection with the separate action on the bond–on the ground they were “unnecessary” and hence not recoverable under CCP 685.040. Fees were also properly denied under Civil Code 1717 as objectively unreasonable. Equitable principles govern fee awards and counsel against awarding fees to parties that litigate unnecessarily or engage in expensive battles that eclipse the dispute that they originally brought to court.