Probate: Award Of Fees To Trustee’s Attorneys Was No Abuse Of Discretion Where They Were California Bar Members, But Their Law Firm Was Not California Registered

Disqualification Based On Law Firm Registration Would Be Too Harsh.

            In Johnson v. Johnson, Case Nos. C090195/ C090522 (3d Dist. Dec. 27, 2021) (unpublished), trustee’s attorneys were awarded fees for beneficiaries making a bad faith contest of accountings.  On appeal, the aggrieved parties argued that the fee award was improper because the law firm for the winning attorneys was not registered in California.  That was true, but the individual attorneys were California state bar members, good enough to make an award justifiable.  (See Frye v. Tenderloin Housing Clinic, Inc., 38 Cal.4th 23, 48-50 (2006) [concluding that requiring disgorgement of fees by non-profit defendant because of failure to register is disproportionate to the wrong and “would constitute a totally unwarranted windfall” to plaintiff]; Olson v. Cohen, 106 Cal.App.4th 1205, 1215 (2003) [“To require disgorgement of fees because of a failure to register the corporation . . . is disproportionate to the wrong”].)