Prevailing Party: Trust Was Entitled To Fee Recovery Under Fees Clause, Even Though It May Not Have Been So Entitled Under Elder Abuse Fee-Shifting Statutes

 

Case Demonstrates Trial Court Decisions Will Be Sustained on Any Right Ground Existing in the Record.

     In Nesbitt v. Emmanuel, Case No. B224521 (2d Dist., Div. 4 Feb. 7, 2012) (unpublished), the trial court awarded both compensatory and punitive damages under the financial elder abuse statutes to a trust. It also awarded attorney’s fees to the trust under Welfare and Institutions Code section 15667.5(a). Even though this provision may well only apply to an elder or dependent adult (and not to a trust entity), the fee recovery was upheld because there was an alternate basis: a fees clause in the note running in favor of the trust. So, fee judgment affirmed in case of the duped elderly trustee.