Recent Articles
Family Law: $40,000 Needs-Based Award To Ex-Wife Was Affirmed On Appeal Despite Some Conflicting Rulings
In The End, The Award Was Just Because Ex-Husband Drove Up The Costs Of The Litigation. Marriage of Houghteling, Case No. B348954 (2d Dist., Div….
Section 998: Personal Injury Plaintiff, In Low Collision Bike-Car Accident, Properly Was Assessed With $99,800 In Costs After Rejecting A 998 Offer Of $20,000 In The Wake Of A Subsequent Defense Jury Verdict
Most Of The Costs Were Expert Witness Fees. Although attorney’s fees in California are rarely at issue in normal personal injury cases, CCP section 998…
Arbitration: Study Of FINRA Arbitration Awards From 2015-2024 Has Some Interesting Statistical Findings
Arbitration Fee Awards Are Spiking Upwards Over The Years. Arbitrator-X.com has an interesting statistical survey of attorney’s fees awards in Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINDRA)…
Off Topics, Substantiation Of Reasonableness Of Fees: Florida’s Sixth District Court of Appeal Finds That Expert Testimony And An Evidentiary Hearing Are Not Required Before A Lower Court Can Fashion An Attorney’s Fees Award
Although Only Applicable To Certain Florida Counties, It Is More In Line With California And Federal Approaches. Although we usually concentrate on California cases, the…
Sanctions: Orange County Superior Court’s Appellate Division Publishes Order Sanctioning Defendant’s Attorneys For Filing Briefs With AI Hallucinations
End Of The Order Makes Clear That The Appellate Division Will Report Imposition Of Sanctions On This Issue To The California State Bar. In Southland Homes…
Employment, Multipliers: Plaintiff Prevailing Under California’s Whistleblower Statutes Correctly Was Awarded Over $2.92 Million In Fees And $210,000 In Costs
Defendant’s Challenge To Application Of A 1.5 Positive Multiplier Was Rebuffed On Appeal. The California Whistleblower Protection Act (CWPA), Gov. Code section 8547 et seq.,…
Family Law: After Making Findings That Husband Had Better Access To Funds And Wife Had Overlitigated The Dissolution Case, Appellate Court Affirmed Lower Court’s Decision To Have Husband Waive A Spousal Support Overcharge In Consideration Of Waiving His Lesser Section 2030 Award To Wife
Husband’s Waiver Of A $12,750 Spousal Support Overpayment By Husband In Return For Foregoing Payment Of An Additional 2030 Award Of $4,000 To Wife Was…
Appealability, Landlord/Tenant, Non-Signatories, Reasonableness Of Fees: Prevailing Defendant Tenants, Including Two Non-Signatory Occupants, Properly Were Awarded Contractual Attorney’s Fees Under Lease Provisions When Defendants Defensed Plaintiff Landlord’s Unlawful Detainer Action Based On An Invalid Three Day-Notice
Fee Award Was $50,000, A Contractually Capped Amount, Even Though Defendants’ Counsel Expended $73,865 In Fees. In SM 10000 Property, LLC v. Chakchay, Case No. B350752…
Choice of Law, Prevailing Party: Where Plaintiffs Dismissed Contractual Claims, A Defendant Was Not Entitled To Attorney’s Fees In The Suit, Excluding Prior SLAPP Fee Recovery, Because Defendant Forfeited The Claim That New York Law Applied By Using California Law At Important Junctures Of The Litigation
Defendant’s Fee Request Was For Around $3.215 Million. Although this litigation was fierce, with defense parties winning SLAPP fees and contractual fees under California law,…
Sanctions: D.C. Circuit Sanctions An Appellee In A Federal Appeal By Striking Its Responding Brief For Containing AI Hallucinations
In A Per Curiam Published Order, Concurring Justice Touches On Some Other Issues In The Case. The D.C. Circuit federal appeals court has published a…
Special Fee Shifting Statutes: Six Plaintiffs Obtaining A $3.85 Million Jury Verdict After Seven Years Of Litigation Were Awarded $4,815,033.25 In Attorney’s Fees
Fee-Shifting Statute Was A Provision In The Trafficking Victims Protection Act. In Moore, et al. v. Rubin, No. 25-613-v (2d Dist. Sept. 4, 2026), the Second…
Family Law: In Case Where Both Ex-Husband And Ex-Wife Had Substantial Assets, The Lower Court Erred in Denying Family Code Section 2030 Fees To Ex-Wife Because It Did Not Make Express Findings On Relative Access To Funds Or On Relative Ability To Pay
Case Remanded To Reconsider The 2030 Fee Request (Including If Fees Were Appropriate); Fees Were Properly Denied Under Family Code Section 3557 Relating To Child…
Celebrities, Intellectual Property: After Winning The Merits Of Her Royalty Suit Against Mary Bono Who Invoked Copyright Termination Principles, Cher Loses The Secondary Battle For $1,023,605.50 In Attorney’s Fees Under The Copyright Act’s Fee-Shifting Provision
The Dispute, At Its Core, Was A Contract Dispute, Not Triggering Copyright Act Fee-Shifting. Sonny and Cher were icons in the music industry. Under a…
POOF!, Special Fee Shifting Statutes: Where Appellate Court Reversed CDAFA Jury Verdict Against Two Defendants, Prevailing Party Fees To Plaintiff Went POOF! On Appeal
Lower Court’s Denial Of Fees To A Prevailing Defendant Had To Be Reassessed Under The Court’s Earlier Hay Opinion Relating to Prevailing Defense CDAFA Fee Recovery Penal…
Employment, Reasonableness Of Fees: Where Plaintiff Won On 2 Out Of Eight Claims In CFRA/FEHA Case Against Defendant, Reduced $770,310 Fee Award Was Affirmed On Appeal
The Request Was $2.6 Million (Lodestar Plus 2.0 Positive Multiplier), With Lower Court Reducing Some Hourly Rates And Applying A Further 25% Reduction For Flawed…
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Family Law: $40,000 Needs-Based Award To Ex-Wife Was Affirmed On Appeal Despite Some Conflicting Rulings
In The End, The Award Was Just Because Ex-Husband Drove Up The Costs Of The Litigation. Marriage of Houghteling, Case No. B348954 (2d Dist., Div. 6 Sept. 14, 2026) (unpublished) is interesting because the family law judge made some conflicting statements about the disparity to access factors, finding that maybe both sides had the same…
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Section 998: Personal Injury Plaintiff, In Low Collision Bike-Car Accident, Properly Was Assessed With $99,800 In Costs After Rejecting A 998 Offer Of $20,000 In The Wake Of A Subsequent Defense Jury Verdict
Most Of The Costs Were Expert Witness Fees. Although attorney’s fees in California are rarely at issue in normal personal injury cases, CCP section 998 can be a cost-shifting statute of significance for either side given that expert fee expenses can be significant and can be awarded to the “winner” of a well-crafted 998 offer—all…
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Arbitration: Study Of FINRA Arbitration Awards From 2015-2024 Has Some Interesting Statistical Findings
Arbitration Fee Awards Are Spiking Upwards Over The Years. Arbitrator-X.com has an interesting statistical survey of attorney’s fees awards in Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINDRA) arbitrations for the 10-year period of January 1, 2015-December 31, 2024, surveying 1,231 cases with fee awards. Only about 15% of FINDA arbitration awards include fee awards, likely because they…
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Off Topics, Substantiation Of Reasonableness Of Fees: Florida’s Sixth District Court of Appeal Finds That Expert Testimony And An Evidentiary Hearing Are Not Required Before A Lower Court Can Fashion An Attorney’s Fees Award
Although Only Applicable To Certain Florida Counties, It Is More In Line With California And Federal Approaches. Although we usually concentrate on California cases, the Florida Sixth District Court of Appeal (governing over around 10 Central Florida counties) in Ruffenach v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co., 431 So.3d 1055 (Fla. App., 6th Dist. 2026) rejected a six-decades…
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Sanctions: Orange County Superior Court’s Appellate Division Publishes Order Sanctioning Defendant’s Attorneys For Filing Briefs With AI Hallucinations
End Of The Order Makes Clear That The Appellate Division Will Report Imposition Of Sanctions On This Issue To The California State Bar. In Southland Homes & Real Estate and Investment, LLC v. Lam, Case No. 30-2026-01569207 (Orange County Super. Ct., App. Div. modified opinion Aug. 5, 2026; posted Sept. 10, 2026) (published), Presiding Judge Kimberly…
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Employment, Multipliers: Plaintiff Prevailing Under California’s Whistleblower Statutes Correctly Was Awarded Over $2.92 Million In Fees And $210,000 In Costs
Defendant’s Challenge To Application Of A 1.5 Positive Multiplier Was Rebuffed On Appeal. The California Whistleblower Protection Act (CWPA), Gov. Code section 8547 et seq., has a mandatory prevailing party fee-shifting provision allowing reasonable attorney’s fees as provided by law to a party prevailing on a cause of action under CWPA. (See section 8547.10(c).) This…