Plaintiff Voluntarily Dismissed The Civil Harassment Action, And Failed To Show That The Trial Court Acted Arbitrarily Or Unreasonably Under Highly Deferential Discretion Standard.
Code of Civil Procedure section 527.6(s) allows a trial court to award attorney fees to the prevailing party in a civil harassment proceeding. In Firsov v. Zhukovsky, Case No. H047913 (6th Dist., March 8, 2022) (unpublished), self-represented plaintiff – who voluntarily dismissed a civil harassment action on the day of the hearing on the matter – appealed the trial court’s award of $10,295 in section 527.6(s) attorney fees to prevailing defendant. In addition to unsupported arguments regarding attorney defendants’ ability to have legal representation in in civil harassment actions and unsubstantiated claims regarding defendant’s alleged false statements, plaintiff argued that the fee award should be reversed because the trial court failed to consider his financial circumstances in determining what, if any, amount of fees were reasonable.
The Sixth District was not persuaded and affirmed. The trial court’s determinations as to prevailing party and amount of fees award are discretionary, and plaintiff failed to show that the trial court acted arbitrarily or unreasonably in reaching its decision. (PLCM Group, Inc. v. Drexler, 22 Cal.4th 1084, 1095 (2000) [No. 1 in our list of Leading Cases].) Additionally, a trial court is permitted to consider a party’s financial condition in determining a reasonable fees amount, but is not necessarily required to do so. Because the record in this action was silent as to the trial court’s consideration of plaintiff’s financial condition, the panel had to presume the trial court considered all required factors in determining the amount of the fee award.
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