Sections 52 and 54.3 Held to Create Implied Exception to Section 55.
The appellate court in Turner v. Assn. of American Medical Colleges, Case No. A126742 (1st Dist., Div. 5 Mar. 24, 2011) (certified for publication) had to consider dueling fee-shifting provisions under the Unruh Civil Rights Act: sections 52 and 54.3 only allowing fee awards to prevailing plaintiffs and section 55 which provides that prevailing parties in an action for injunctive relief under the Disabled Persons Act was entitled to fee recovery. Defendant prevailed after an earlier appellate reversal, seeking to recover $1,631,787.50 and $35,690.22 in costs--after all, defendant beat injunctive relief so as to claim fee entitlement under section 55. The trial court denied the fee request, but did award the requested costs.
Reconciling the three fee-shifting provisions, the appellate court determined--in a case presenting a first impression issue--that the prevailing defendant was not entitled to fee recovery for hours because the work related to fee incurred in defending claims under sections 52 and 54.3. These provisions created an exception to section 55 by implication, prohibiting a fee award to a prevailing defendant for the same hours devoted to defending claims under sections 52 and 54.3. The lower court properly denied fees given the defense concession that the work was spent on 52/54.3 claims.
BLOG UNDERVIEW--Earlier in Turner I (Turner v. Assn. of American Medical Colleges, 167 Cal.App.4th 1401 (2008) [explored in our October 30, 2008 post]), this same appellate court reversed a favorable merits judgment for the plaintiff here, which meant $1,969,000 in fees and costs to plaintiff at that stage went POOF!
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