Overall Litigation Picture Must Be Surveyed.
In Betuel v. Luma Pictures, Inc., Case No. B297030 (2d Dist., Div. 4 Aug. 19, 2021) (unpublished), parties under a settlement agreement reached a resolution on partial ownership in a corporation, with a contractual fees clause being present in the settlement document. However, one of the litigants who possibly prevailed under the settlement never moved for fees as the prevailing party in the trial court. It did move for attorney’s fees on appeal, after indicating that it won on appeal (and good guess, which was true). The appellate court denied the request for appellate fees. The appeal was not a discrete segment of prevailing unattached to the overall trial result below, with the failure to seek fees at the trial level being the clincher.
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