Wife’s Appeal Of Fee Denial Was Untimely.
Wife was flummoxed by a lower court’s refusal to award her attorney’s fees, appealing from the denial in Bennett v. Foss, Case Nos. A145656/147009 (1st Dist., Div. 1 Sept. 28, 2016) (unpublished). Unfortunately for her, the appellate court determined that she untimely appealed such that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the challenge.
Wife tried to escape the untimeliness of her fee appeal by arguing that it was timely because she filed a valid new trial motion on the postjudgment fee issue, such that the time to appeal was extended. The 1/1 DCA disagreed. Based on Mann v. Superior Court, 53 Cal.App.2d 272, 285 (1942), the appellate court determined that a new trial motion will not lie to challenge a ruling on a postjudgment fees issue, with the later state supreme court case of Carney v. Simmonds, 49 Cal.2d 84, 88-91 (1957) not overruling Mann with respect to its application in regards to a postjudgment fee motion.
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