In Fogh v. Los Angeles Film Schools, Case No. B230520 (2d Dist., Div. 2 Dec. 18, 2012) (unpublished), a plaintiff determined to be an administratively exempt employee did obtain a $13,972 compensatory unpaid overtime award. But, wait, the employee was then awarded postjudgment fees of $96,800 against defendant, provoking an appeal.
The appeal was not found persuasive.
Defendant’s main challenge was that the trial court should have discounted fees based on an oral settlement offer of $20,600.14 made during mediation.
Didn’t succeed. The flaws were two-fold: (1) the offer was made during a mediation session such that it was inadmissible; and (2) even if admissible, the offer was unreasonable under the circumstances--the defense said “take it or leave it” so that it was not improper for the trial judge to reject any impact from the verbal, last-minute offer. (See also Greene v. Dillingham Constr. N.A., Inc. (2002) 101 Cal.App.4th 418, 425-426 [informal offers not made under CCP § 998 do not have to be considered when it comes to reducing nonpublic fee awards].)
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