However, Defense Attorney’s Recordation Of Judgment Abstract Based On Including Fees As Costs Before Fee Motion Was Heard Troubled The Court Of Appeal, Which Ordered The Lien Removed.
In Labertew v. Whiteley, Case No. C077751 (3d Dist. July 10, 2018) (unpublished), plaintiffs, successors to the original owner on land where there was telephone equipment leased to a phone provider, sued defendant original owner for declaratory relief, claiming that they were entitled to the lease cash flow under the phone equipment lease entered into by defendant and the phone provider. The lease had a fees clause between defendant and the phone provider. Defendant prevailed in plaintiff’s declaratory relief action. Defendant then sought fees from plaintiffs and her attorney filed an amended abstract of judgment against plaintiffs’ property for the amount of a costs judgment (but which included the amount of requested attorney’s fees as costs before the fee matter was adjudicated). The trial judge refused to award fees and ordered the abstract to be removed.
The Third District affirmed. It decided the lease fees clause only related to defendant and the phone provider, not extending to any dispute for declaratory relief between defendant and a successor in interest to the property defendant formerly owned. It was even more troubled by the recordation of a judgment abstract for a yet-to-be adjudicated fee motion as part of the abstract, agreeing it was properly lifted and referring the matter to the State Bar for defense attorney’s “troubling” conduct.
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