Another POOF!: Defendants’ $55,000 Fees/Costs Award Goes Away When Court of Appeal Reverses Summary Judgment In Landlord-Tenant Lawsuit

 

Reversal Means Award Goes POOF!

     The POOF! principle got illustrated again, recently, in Spinks v. Equity Residential Briarwood Apartments, Case No. H031468 (6^th Dist. Mar. 4, 2009) (certified for publication). There, landlords had obtained a summary judgment against tenant in a contentious landlord-tenant lawsuit after tenant’s employer terminated her and asked the landlord to change the lock on the apartment unit she was occupying. The lower court awarded defendants a judgment exceeding $55,000, including attorney’s fees of more than $52,000, plus costs of just over $3,000. This was based on Civil Code section 789.3(b), which provides that a court shall award reasonable attorney’s fees to a prevailing party in an action involving the claim that landlord used self-help to terminate a residential tenancy.

     On appeal, the Sixth District reversed the summary judgment in favor of the defense. Accordingly, it did not have to address the fee-shifting statute because “[w]here summary judgment is reversed on appeal, there is no prevailing party and thus no basis for an award of fees.” (Rich v. Schwab, 162 Cal.App.3d 739, 745 (1984).) Or, put another way, POOF!