California Attorney’s Fees

Recent Posts from California Attorney’s Fees

• Interpleader: No Attorney's Fees Recoverable Where Neutral Stakeholder Failed To Interplead Funds But Kept Them In Interest-Bearing CODs

  Statutory Basis for Fees Requires Deposit of Disputed Funds Into Court. Code of Civil Procedure section 386(a) allows a neutral stakeholder of certain funds subject to conflicting claims to commence an interpleader action, deposit the…

• Fee Clause Interpretation and 998 Offers: Court Of Appeal Remands $400,000 Fee Award against Contractor But Affirms Separate $296,148.84 Against Contractor In Favor of Subcontractor

  Fourth District, Division 1 Address Plethora of Fee Issues in Unpublished Decision. Well, strap your helmets on, readers, because we now synopsize a 75-page unpublished decisions dealing with a cornucopia (a good word in celebration…

• Fee Clause Interpretation And Allocation: Substantial Fee Award Affirmed Where Fees Clause Was Broad In Nature And All Claims Based On Same Operative Facts

  Fourth District, Division 2 Sustains $382,233.25 Fee Award Under Code of Civil Procedure Section 1021. As we have reminded readers before, a broad fee clause will frequently give winning litigants a “big bonus” for fee…

• Arbitration: Trial Court Has Authority To Award Limited Arbitration Fees And Costs

  Lower Court Erred In Awarding $5,218.60 in Filing Fees, Motion Fees, and Registered Process Server Charges. In Meyers v. Fitzgerald, Case No. H032605 (6th Dist. Nov. 19, 2009) (unpublished), plaintiffs filed a complaint that was…

• Trespass: Past Use Of Property For Raising Livestock Justifies Fee Award Under CCP Section 1021.9

  Negligently Causing Brush Fire to Ranch Previously Used to Raise Livestock Gave Rise to Fee Recovery. Code of Civil Procedure section 1021.9 mandates an award of reasonable attorney’s fees to the prevailing plaintiff “in any…

• Consumer Statutes: Prevailing Defendant Under Consumer Statute Used Only As UCL Predicate Cannot Recovery Fees From Losing Plaintiff

  “Borrowing” Statute’s Fee Provision Does Not Translate to Fee Exposure Under UCL. In a case of first impression, the Second District, Division Three reconciled two conflicting statutory schemes, deciding that a prevailing defendant was not…

• Class Actions: Class Counsel Have Obligations To Enforce Judgment And Report To Supervising Court On Uncollectibility

  Class Counsel’s Obligations Do Not End With Entry of Judgment. Class actions have heightened obligations for class counsel, with fiduciary obligations that transcend those owed to non-class clients. The next case shows that the obligations…

• Sanctions: CCP Section 128.7 Sanctions Are Not Proper Unless The Unfiled Motion Has A Definitive Motion Hearing Date Set

  Second District, Division 4 Reverses Sanctions Award For Failure to Meet Technical Requirements. Here is one for all of you practitioners desiring to set up a CCP section 128.7 sanctions motion, correctly we might add.…

• Reasonableness Of Fees: Hourly Rates Of Out-of-County Attorneys Sustained As Being Reasonable

  L.A. Counsel Rates Found Reasonable in Complex Imperial County Lawsuit. One should keep in mind that, as an out-of-county attorney litigating in other venues, you should not assume your “native” hourly rates will not be…

• Appeal: Appeal From Amended Judgment Inserting Fee Award Did Not Preserve Appeal Of Merits Judgment

  Fourth District, Division 1 Reminds Us All of An Important Lesson in the Appellate Arena. The Fourth District, Division 1, provided us all with an important reminder of timely appealing judgments in order to preserve…