Appealability: $392,172 Fee Award Against Losing Party Because No Appeal Was Taken From Fee Order Or Amended Judgment

Since Entitlement Not Decided Under Original Judgment, Appeal From It Only Did Not Preserve Challenge To Subsequent Fee Ruling.

            Unfortunately, Clymer v. Elder, Case No. E072525 (4^th Dist., Div.  2 Oct. 13, 2020) (unpublished) is another appellate case result which counsels one to appeal post-judgment orders or amended judgments where an original judgment did not determine fee entitlement.   Otherwise, the challenges cannot be jurisdictionally entertained by the reviewing court.

            Losing party got hit with a $392,172 attorney’s fees award after losing out based on standing and full credit bid arguments from the defense.  He contested the fee award, but the 4/2 DCA panel basically said “no dice, cannot consider it.”  The reason was that appellant had failed to appeal a subsequent fee order or amended judgment after an original judgment had been entered.  In certain cases, an appeal from an original judgment will subsume a later fee award but only if fee entitlement was decided under the original judgment.   (Silver v. Pacific American Fish Co., Inc., 190 Cal.App.4^th 688, 692 (2010); Nellie Gail Ranch Owners Assn. v. McMulllin, 4 Cal.App.5^th 982, 1009 (2016).)  In this particular case, it was clear that no fee entitlement determination had been made, with the original judgment listing “TBD” (to be determined) such that this traditional language contained in many judgments was not equivalent to an entitlement determination.   Message from this one:  appeal those post-judgment orders and amended judgments, please.