No Apportionment Necessary Where Noninverse Condemnation Claim Relevant to Inverse Claim; No Statement of Decision Required Either.
Code of Civil Procedure section 1036 provides that a trial court shall fix attorney's fees and costs expenses to a prevailing plaintiff in an inverse condemnation proceeding.
Section 1036 was the centerpiece of the fee ruling appealed in Lockaway Storage v. County of Alameda, Case Nos. A130874/A132768 (1st Dist., Div. 3 May 9, 2013) (published).
Plaintiffs won $989,640.96 for a temporary regulatory taking, but were awarded nothing on the complimentary civil rights claim. Plaintiffs then moved for section 1036 lodestar fees plus a 1.25 multiplier. The lower court gave them the full $703,760 lodestar plus another $24,255.50 for fees on fees, totaling $728,015.50. No multiplier was awarded.
Losing County appealed, principally arguing two things: (1) only inverse condemnation work was recoverable due to the loss on the civil rights claim, and (2) the trial court had to issue a statement of decision in section 1036 situations.
Wrong on both counts, ruled the appellate court.
All the lower court has to determine is that the work on the noninverse claim was "relevant to"--close to the intertwined test for Civil Code section 1717--the inverse claim. Here, it was so that no discretion was abused by awarding the full lodestar request.
Also, no statement of decision is generally required in fee proceedings, with no authority being cited for the proposition that express findings were required under section 1036.
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