Year-End Wrap-Up Supplement: Survey Of Percentage Of Issues Addressed In California State And Ninth Circuit Published Decisions During 2017

For California State Decisions, Fee Clause Interpretation, Prevailing Party, Probate, Family Law, Civil Rights, Section 1717, Private Attorney General, and Fee Reasonableness Issues Rose To The Top, While Ninth Circuit Published Decisions Addressed An Array of Issues.

            As we usher in the 2018 New Year, we thought we would go back and provide a breakdown of attorney’s fees/costs/sanctions issues addressed by California state courts (published and unpublished) and by the Ninth Circuit (published only) during 2017.  We went back through each month and tallied the results for certain categories, sometimes combining our home categories into one category for ease of reference.  (For example, we included discovery, 128.5, and 128.7 sanctions under the category “Sanctions”.)  There was a total of 295 California decisions surveyed, compared to 12 Ninth Circuit published decisions which we examined.  The percentages we rounded off from the total “case pool,” but we got pretty close to 100%.  Here is how it panned out:

 

CALIFORNIA APPELLATE DECISIONS (PUBLISHED AND UNPUBLISHED)

 

• Fee clause interpretation – 23 decisions – 8%;
• Prevailing party – 22 decisions – 7.5%;
• Probate – 17 decisions – 6%;
• Family law – 15 decisions – 5%;
• Civil rights (mainly FEHA) – 15 decisions – 5%;
• Civil Code section 1717 – 16 decisions – 5%;
• Private attorney general (CCP § 1021.5) – 15 decisions – 5%;
• Reasonableness of fees – 15 decisions – 5%;
• Employment – 11 decisions – 4%;
• Routine costs – 13 decisions – 4.5%;
• Code of Civil Procedure section 998 – 13 decisions – 4.5%;
• Arbitration – 8 decisions – 3%;
• Sanctions – 9 decisions – 3%;
• Appealability – 8 decisions – 3%;
• Apportionment (allocation) – 9 decisions – 3%;
• Liens for attorney’s fees – 7 decisions – 2%;
• SLAPP – 7 decisions – 2%;
• Homeowner associations – 7 decisions – 2%;
• Special fee shifting statutes other than above – 6 decisions – 2%;
• Indemnity – 7 decisions – 2%;
• Consumer statutes – 5 decisions – 1.5%;
• Substantiation of reasonableness of fees – 5 decisions – 1.5%;
• Jurisdiction (primary discussion in decisions) – 2 decisions – 1%;
• Mediation (fee clause disqualification) – 3 decisions – 1%;
• Class actions – 2 decisions – 1%;
• Deadlines – 4 decisions – 1%;
• Landlord/tenant – 4 decisions – 1%;
• Request for admissions proof-of-costs sanctions – 3 decisions – 1%;
• Undertaking/bonding – 2 decisions – 1%;
• Construction – 2 decisions – 1%;
• Insurance (mainly Brandt issues) – 3 decisions – 1%;
• Retainer agreements – 2 decisions – 1%;
• Assignment issues – 2 decisions – 1%;
• Trade secret – 2 decisions – 1%;
• Damages – 2 decisions – 1%;
• Unlicensed contractor – 2 decisions – 1%;
• Tort of another – 2 decisions – 1%;
• Interest – 1 decision -- .5%;
• Eminent domain – 1 decision -- .5%;
• Judgment enforcement – 1 decision -- .5%;
• Fees on fees – 1 decision -- .5%; and
• Partition – 1 decision -- .5%

NINTH CIRCUIT (PUBLISHED)

• Intellectual property – 1 decision – 8%;
• Fees on fees – 2 decisions – 17%;
• IDEA – 1 decision – 8%;
• Prevailing party – 1 decision – 8%;
• Sanctions – 1 decision – 8%;
• Appealability – 1 decision – 8%;
• Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) – 1 decision – 8%;
• FRCP Rule 68 – 1 decision – 8%;
• Class action – 1 decision – 8%;
• Bankruptcy – 1 decision – 8%; and
• Special fee shifting statute other than above – 1 decision – 8%.

For Part 1 of our Top 20 Year-End Wrap-Up click here.

For Part 2 of our Top 20 Year-End Wrap-Up click here.