POOF!/Prevailing Party: Winning Party In “Botched” Sale Of Advertising Sign Dispute Sees $369,284 Fee/Costs Award Go Away With Reversal Of Certain Tort Claims

 

$20,000 “Botched” Sale Resulted In Lots Of Damages And Fees, With A “Re-do” Based Upon Partial Reversals of Compensatory and Punitive Awards.

     You gotta love how appellate courts can summarize disputes. Take Young Electric Sign Co. v. PC Dixon 1, LLC, Case No. C072212 (3d Dist. Oct. 28, 2015) (unpublished), modified Nov. 30, 2015 (unpublished) for example: “In this case, the botched sale of an advertising sign for approximately $20,000 turned into a jury verdict of $832,715 for damages based on lost profits, $3 million in punitive damages, and $369.284 in attorney fees, cots, and expert witness fees.”

     So what happened on appeal by the losing party? The appellate court reversed a fraudulent concealment verdict, a punitive damages award, a negligent misrepresentation award, and a conversion lost profits award. Because the fee award was based on the contractual fees clause also covering overlapping tort claims, the reversal of several of the tort claims meant that fee/costs award needed to be reversed and remanded to the trial court for a relook after the merits were reexamined.