Attorney’s Fees Could Be Claimed As Costs Based On Contractual Fees Clause, Not Having To Be Plead As Damages And Not Subject To Any Reduction Because Insurance Carrier Covered Fees For Cross-Defendant.
In Strouse v. Webcor Construction, L.P., Case No. A148863 (1st Dist., Div. 3 March 27, 2019) (unpublished), plaintiff, employee of subcontractor ACCO, suffered a workplace injury at Cal Berkeley’s Memorial Football, ensuing him to sue general contractor Webcor for negligence. Webcor, in turn, sued subcontractor ACCO for indemnity (under an agreement with a contractual fees clause). A jury found Webcor 100% liable, and the cross-complaint was adjudicated in favor of ACCO. The trial judge later awarded ACCO $298,843 in attorney’s fees for prevailing on the cross-complaint as against Webcor.
Webcor lost both the merits appeal and the appeal of the fee recovery.
The appellate court determined that the fees could be claimed as costs, not having to be pled as damages so as to justify entitlement. It did not matter that ACCO had insurance coverage so that fees were paid by someone else did not mean fees were not “incurred.” (Staples v. Hoefke, 189 Cal.App.3d 1397, 1410 (1987).) The fee recovery was no “double recovery” in addition to the jury verdict because fees are costs, not damages.
BLOG OBSERVATION—Keith Amelee and Lou Klein at Foley & Mansfield were the successful trial attorneys for ACCO. Co-contributor Mike was a fee expert in the lower court fee proceeding, where the trial judge issued an award with a minor discount from the fee request. On appeal, Margaret Johnson and Lou at Foley were the successful appellate attorneys before the First District. Congrats to the attorneys at Foley & Mansfield.
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